Artificial Intelligence for the Interventional Cardiologist: Powering and Enabling OCT Image Interpretation

Interv Cardiol. 2024 Mar 11:19:e03. doi: 10.15420/icr.2023.13. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Intravascular optical coherence tomography (IVOCT) is a form of intra-coronary imaging that uses near-infrared light to generate high-resolution, cross-sectional, and 3D volumetric images of the vessel. Given its high spatial resolution, IVOCT is well-placed to characterise coronary plaques and aid with decision-making during percutaneous coronary intervention. IVOCT requires significant interpretation skills, which themselves require extensive education and training for effective utilisation, and this would appear to be the biggest barrier to its widespread adoption. Various artificial intelligence-based tools have been utilised in the most contemporary clinical IVOCT systems to facilitate better human interaction, interpretation and decision-making. The purpose of this article is to review the existing and future technological developments in IVOCT and demonstrate how they could aid the operator.

Keywords: Artificial intelligence; OCT; intracoronary imaging; optical coherence tomography.

Publication types

  • Review