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Clinical Utility of Virtual Histology Intravascular Ultrasound

  • Intravascular Imaging (IK Jang, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Cardiovascular Imaging Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

Tissue characterization using imaging is important to understand the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis and subsequent outcomes. In this review, the clinical utility of virtual histology intravascular ultrasound (VH-IVUS), which provides a quantitative and more objective evaluation of tissue characterization compared with grayscale IVUS, will be summarized.

Recent Findings

Patient clinical characteristics, including coronary risk factors and medications, are associated with lesion morphology, especially plaque vulnerability. Different levels of vulnerability cause different clinical presentations and associated long-term outcomes. For example, in the first natural history study (Providing Regional Observations to Study Predictors of Events in the Coronary Tree [PROSPECT]), we showed that large plaque burden, small lumen area, and presence of thin-cap fibroatheroma were associated with subsequent outcomes at 3-year follow-up.

Summary

VH-IVUS has contributed significantly to our understanding of atherosclerosis.

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Abbreviations

ACS:

Acute coronary syndromes

CAD:

Coronary artery disease

CTO:

Chronic total occlusion

DC:

Dense calcium

IVUS:

Intravascular ultrasound

MACE:

Major adverse cardiac event

MLA:

Minimum lumen area

NC:

Necrotic core

NSTE:

Non-ST-segment elevation

STEMI:

ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction

TCFA:

Thin-cap fibroatheroma

VH:

Virtual histology

References

Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance •• Of major importance

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, Columbia University Medical Center, 630 W 168th St, New York, NY, 10032, USA

    Akiko Maehara

  2. Clinical Trials Center, Cardiovascular Research Foundation, 1700 Broadway, 9th Floor, New York, NY, 10019, USA

    Akiko Maehara & Gary S. Mintz

Authors
  1. Akiko Maehara
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  2. Gary S. Mintz
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Akiko Maehara.

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Conflict of Interest

Akiko Maehara reports grants and personal fees from Boston Scientific Corporation, grants and personal fees from St Jude Medical, and personal fees from OCT Medical Imaging Inc., outside the submitted work. Gary S. Mintz reports grants and personal fees from Boston Scientific Corporation, grants and personal fees from Volcano Corporation, personal fees from ACIST, and grants from St Jude Medical, outside the submitted work.

Human and Animal Rights and informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

Additional information

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Intravascular Imaging

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Maehara, A., Mintz, G.S. Clinical Utility of Virtual Histology Intravascular Ultrasound. Curr Cardiovasc Imaging Rep 10, 29 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12410-017-9426-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12410-017-9426-0

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