Intravascular Ultrasound for Detection of Coronary Atherosclerosis

New diagnostic modalities are being introduced to the clinical practice for the detection of coronary atherosclerosis, owing to the advances in technology in the last twenty years. Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) is one of these, where a high frequency ultrasound transducer, built at the tip of a catheter, detects and measures the luminal diameter and the area of the coronary artery, changes in arterial wall structure, and the features of the atherosclerotic plaque and the lesion site. The capability of IVUS to demonstrate the atherosclerotic process in vivo is unique. Despite some limitations, this diagnostic modality provides as much data as no other imaging technique does and thus has started to influence the clinical decisions made in cardiac catheterization laboratories.