Fundamentals and role of intravascular ultrasound in percutaneous coronary intervention

James Xu; Sidney Lo

doi:10.21037/cdt.2020.01.15

Fundamentals and role of intravascular ultrasound in percutaneous coronary intervention

Cardiovasc Diagn Ther. 2020 Oct;10(5):1358-1370. doi: 10.21037/cdt.2020.01.15.

Authors

James Xu^{1

2}, Sidney Lo^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Cardiology, Liverpool Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
² South Western Sydney Clinical School, University of NSW, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Abstract

Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) is a catheter-based invasive imaging modality that has become an essential adjunctive tool to percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) over the past 20 years. Clinical applications of IVUS in PCI include assessment of lesion severity, characterizing plaque morphology, optimization of acute stent results and clarification of mechanisms of stent failure. Numerous meta-analyses of large observational and randomized studies support the role of IVUS-guided PCI in reducing short and long-term adverse outcomes, including mortality and stent failure, particularly in patients receiving drug-eluting stents (DESs) and in complex lesion subsets. The current review provides a summary of the fundamental aspects and current clinical roles of IVUS in coronary intervention.

Keywords: Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS); drug eluting stent; percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Publication types

Review