The Application Values Of IVUS In Atherosclerotic Arteries

PART One: The Feasibility of Intravascular UltrasoundImaging--Imagings of Normal and Atherosclerotic Rabbit Arteries In VitroIn order to investigate the feasibility of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging, the study evaluated the dimensional and morphologic precision of arterial images by intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) catheters [4. 8F (20MHz) and 3. 5F (30MHz)]. Dimensions of in vitro ultrasound images from rabbit abdominal aortas [6 normal(18 segments) and 6 atherosclerotic model (17 segments)] were compared with those from histologic sections of the vessels. The correlations of in vitro ultrasound imaging with histologic measurements for luminai diameters (n=18, r=0.97), intimal thickness (n=18, r=0.95) , and medial thickness (n=18, r=0.92) in normal rabbit aortas were significant (all p<0.001). In vitro measurements of ultrasound images and histologic specimens from rabbit atherosclerotic aortas for luminal diameters (n=17, r=0.97) , intimal thickness (n=17, r=0. 94) and medial thickness (n=17, r=0. 89) were also correlated significantly (p<0. 01-0. 001) Morphologically, in vitro ultrasound images of the wall of normal rabbit abdominal aortas had a concentric laminated appearance and atherosclerotic vessels had patchy echodense and echolucent areas. Conclusion: IVUS can provides high quality images of small arteries of normal and atherosclerotic and determines vascular morphology and dimensions.PART Two: The Application Values of Intravascular Ultrasound Imaging at Pre-PTCA or/and Post-PTCAIn order to evaluate the application values of intravascular ultrasound imaging at Pre-PTCA or/and Post-PTCA, 1 normal subject and 11 consecutive patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) were examined using a single-element [3. 5F (30MHz) and 4.8F (20MHz)] ultrasound catheter.The safety and feasibility of clnical use of IVUS in examining coronary arteries...