Intravascular ultrasound is commonly used to image ficiently high resolution to allow the component layers of the arteries before and after percutaneous procedures to restore blood vessel wall (Figs. and) and imaged lesions to be identified flow in vessels where plaque has reduced the size of the vessel lumen.
with sufficient clarity to measure the plaque geometry accurately
There is growing evidence that the success of such procedures deand, in most cases, assess the nature of the plaque (Fig. ). The pends on the composition of the plaque. In this study, this problem most common applications are in peripheral and coronary arteries.
has been addressed by applying tissue characterisation techniques
When used in conjunction with therapies such as balloon angioto intravascular ultrasound data obtained from a set of in vitro speciplasty and atherectomy, precise assessment of the effect of the mens of known pathology using a radiofrequency data acquisition procedure may be made. More widespread application of the system interfaced to a commercial intravascular scanner. We found modality in conjunction with percutaneous treatment has been that the attenuation slope of plaque is significantly increased in areas limited by the cost, consisting mostly of the transducer, which is of nonfibrous plaque. This increase in attenuation slope is sufficiently high to allow it to be parametrically imaged and combined with gray-