Intracoronary ultrasound (ICUS) imaging uses miniaturized transducers at the tip of catheters to supply tomographic, cross-sectional images of coronary arteries [1,2]. ICUS provides detailed information not only on the degree of arterial stenosis but also on the atherosclerotic lesions and the vessel wall [3]. The traditional angiographic approach used to evaluate coronary artery disease has well-known limitations. One shortcoming is that coronary angiography provides only a planar perspective of the arterial lumen. Depiction of the coronary lumen, and not the wall, is another important limitation of angiography, atherosclerosis being primarily a disease of the arterial wall. The severity of stenosis may be underestimated by angiography because the reference segment used to quantitate the lesion is involved in the diffuse atherosclerotic process. In addition, the composition and morphology of atherosclerotic lesions, which cannot be assessed with angiography, are major determinants of the clinical expression of coronary atherosclerosis and of the response to percutaneous interventions.
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