Читать книгу Interventional Cardiology - Группа авторов - Страница 31

Although IVUS is widely used to investigate plaque morphology, including plaque burden and remodeling, the resolution may be insufficient to characterize subtle changes in the vascular wall. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) which uses backscattered reflections of near‐infrared light, with a wavelength of about 1300 nm to generate an axial image of the coronary artery offers unparalleled spatial resolution (<10 micrometer axial; 20–40 micrometer lateral). This modality enables high‐resolution characterisation of the vascular layers within a healthy artery, tissue characterization (fibrous, fibrocalcific, and lipid plaque) and the identification of morphological changes to the vessel surface such as plaque rupture (Figure 1.4b), plaque erosion (Figure 1.4a) and calcified nodule (Figure 1.4c), which have been considered to be the most common underlying mechanisms contributing to ACS.115 In addition, this also permits the characterization of vulnerable plaques which are prone to rupture (Figure 1.5), including TCFA macrophage accumulation, cholesterol crystals, and micro‐vessels within atherosclerotic plaque.