Intracoronary Imaging: Current Practice and Future Perspectives.

Intracoronary imaging has brought new insight in the field of interventional cardiology. Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) are the most commonly used imaging modalities. Regarding their technical characteristics IVUS and OCT have similarities as well as differences, a fact that could have significant clinical implications. Both techniques play an important role in percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) guidance and demonstrated superiority compared to intravascular coronary angiography (ICA) guidance alone. Furthermore, their use can notably assist coronary plaque evaluation; both provide additional information of plaque characteristics, which can lead to a better understanding of the cause of an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and better clinical outcomes. However, there is not enough clinical evidence for the superiority of one method compared to the other, something that is, also, reflected in the guidelines. In this review, we aim to compare role of IVUS and OCT in the different aspects of coronary artery disease (CAD), according to the latest scientific data. In addition, we present the future perspectives regarding the IVUS and OCT, with co-registration of the two methods or hybrid OCT-IVUS catheters.

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Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

The authors declare no conflict of interest. Grigorios Tsigkas, Anastasios Apostolos, and Athanasios Moulias are serving as Guest Editors of this journal. We declare that Grigorios Tsigkas, Anastasios Apostolos, and Athanasios Moulias had no involvement in the peer review of this article and have no access to information regarding its peer review. Full responsibility for the editorial process for this article was delegated to Zhonghua Sun.