title: Adjunctive intra-coronary imaging for the assessment of coronary artery disease.
abstract: Atherosclerotic coronary artery disease remains a leading cause of worldwide morbidity and mortality. Invasive angiography currently remains the gold standard method of diagnosing and treating coronary disease; however, more sophisticated adjunctive interventional technologies have been developed to combat the inter and intra-observer variability frequently encountered in the assessment of lesion severity. Intravascular imaging now plays a key role in optimising percutaneous coronary interventions and provides invaluable information as part of the interventional cardiologist's diagnostic arsenal. The principles, technical aspects and uses of two modalities of intracoronary imaging, intravascular ultrasound and optical coherence tomography, are discussed. We additionally provide examples of cases where the adjunctive intracoronary imaging was superior to angiography alone in successfully identifying and treating acute coronary syndromes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Ashford & St Peter's Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, UK; Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK.
authors.forename: Nikunj
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Ashford & St Peter's Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, UK.
authors.forename: Bassey
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ussen
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, UK.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mahmoudi
keywords: Acute coronary syndromes; atherosclerosis; cardiology; coronary imaging: angiography / ultrasound/ Doppler / CC; diagnostic testing; etiology; risk factors