Coronary Paque Imaging by Coronary Angioscopy-Comparison with the Other Modalities-

Abstract

The recent improvement of technical aspects of multimodality coronary imaging allow not only assessment of the degree of vessel luminal narrowing but also evaluation of the plaque characteristics and the useful prognostic information and accurate risk stratification. Among them, coronary angioscopy is the coronary imaging modality that enables direct visualization of internal surface of a vessel. Moreover it provides the detail information of plaque morphology, thrombus formation and neointimal coverage (NIC) after stent implantation. A lot of previous studies have shown that coronary angioscopy enabled not only the detection of vulnerable plaque but also prediction of cardiovascular events and percutaneous coronary intervention related complications. In this review, we discuss the role of coronary angioscopy for coronary plaque imaging, including in a comparison with other currently available imaging modalities used to examine atherosclerotic plaque.