Intravascular Ultrasound and Summary

Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) is a clinical method in which plaque-narrowed arteries are widened by inflating an intravascular balloon catheter. However, PTCA remains challenging to apply in calcified plaques since the high pressure required for achieving a therapeutic outcome can result in balloon rupture, vessel rupture, and intimal dissection. To address the problem with PTCA, we hypothesized that a calcified plaque can be disrupted by microbubbles (MBs) inertial cavitation induced by ultrasound (US)...

Ultra-low contrast percutaneous coronary interventions (ULPCIs) are a novel field of interventional cardiology, aiming to reduce the risk of contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN), which is a well-described adverse event after angiography. CIN is a well-described adverse event following PCI, especially in high-risk patients, i.e., patients with an already deteriorating renal function or chronic kidney disease, as well as patients of advanced age or requiring an increased amount of contrast during their intervention...

Chronic total occlusions (CTO) in coronary angiographies present a significant challenge nowadays. Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) is a valuable tool during CTO-PCI, aiding in planning and achieving procedural success. However, the impact of IVUS on clinical and procedural outcomes in CTO-PCI remains uncertain. This meta-analysis aimed to compare IVUS-guided and angiography-guided approaches in CTO-PCI. The study included five studies and 2320 patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD) and CTO. The primary outcome of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) did not significantly differ between the groups ( p = 0...

The diagnostic evaluation of coronary artery disease is undergoing a dramatic transformation with a new focus on atherosclerotic plaque. This review details the evidence needed for effective risk stratification and targeted preventive care based on recent advances in automated measurement of atherosclerosis from coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA). To date, research findings support that automated stenosis measurement is reasonably accurate, but evidence on variability by location, artery size, or image quality is unknown...

Hepatorenal syndrome (HRS) is a diagnosis of exclusion defined as acute kidney injury (AKI) with cirrhosis and ascites, with serum creatinine unresponsive to standardized volume administration and diuretic withdrawal. Persistent intravascular hypovolemia or hypervolemia may contribute to AKI and be revealed by inferior vena cava ultrasound (IVC US), which may guide additional volume management. Twenty hospitalized adult patients meeting HRS-AKI criteria had IVC US to assess intravascular volume after receiving standardized albumin administration and diuretic withdrawal...

Although coronary angiography has been well established as a standard modality for percutaneous coronary intervention guidance, recent developments in intravascular imaging techniques, such as intravascular ultrasound and optical coherence tomography, have become increasingly adopted, enabling direct detailed lesion visualization, including lesions beyond the scope of assessment using exclusively angiography. Intravascular imaging modalities have been reported to potentially improve both short- and long-term percutaneous intervention outcomes...

Echocardiography is less than 70 years old, and many major advances have occurred within living memory, but already some pioneering contributions may be overlooked. In order to consider what circumstances have been common to the most successful innovations, we have studied and here provide a timeline and summary of the most important developments in transthoracic and transoesophageal ultrasound imaging and Doppler techniques, as well as in intravascular ultrasound and imaging in paediatric cardiology. The entries are linked to a comprehensive list of first publications and to a collection of first-hand historical accounts published by early investigators...

Accurate volume status assessments allow physicians to rapidly implement therapeutic measures in acutely unwell patients. However, existing bedside diagnostic tools are often unreliable for assessing intravascular volume. We searched PUBMED, EMBASE, CENTRAL, and Web of Science for English language articles without date restrictions on January 20, 2022. Studies reporting the diagnostic accuracy of IJV-US for hypovolemia and/or hypervolemia in an acute care setting were screened for inclusion. We included studies using any method of IJV-US assessment as the index test, compared against any reference standard...

Cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) is the leading cause of long-term graft dysfunction in patients with heart transplantation and is linked with significant morbidity and mortality. Currently, the gold standard for diagnosing CAV is coronary imaging with intravascular ultrasound during traditional invasive coronary angiography. Invasive imaging, however, carries increased procedural risk and expense to patients in addition to requiring an experienced interventionalist. With the improvements in non-invasive cardiac imaging modalities such as transthoracic echocardiography, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography, an alternative non-invasive imaging approach for the early detection of CAV may be feasible...

Intravenous fluid administration remains an important component in the care of patients with septic shock. A common error in the treatment of septic shock is the use of excessive fluid in an effort to overcome both hypovolemia and vasoplegia. While fluids are necessary to help correct the intravascular depletion, vasopressors should be concomitantly administered to address vasoplegia. Excessive fluid administration is associated with worse outcomes in septic shock, so great care should be taken when deciding how much fluid to give these vulnerable patients...

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has been increasingly utilised to guide percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Despite the diagnostic utility of OCT, facilitated by its high resolution, the impact of intracoronary OCT on clinical practice has thus far been limited. Difficulty in transitioning from intravascular ultrasound (IVUS), complex image interpretation, lack of a standardised algorithm for PCI guidance, and paucity of data from prospective clinical trials have contributed to the modest adoption...

As a well-known medical imaging methodology, intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging plays a critical role in diagnosis, treatment guidance and post-treatment assessment of coronary artery diseases. By cannulating a miniature ultrasound transducer mounted catheter into an artery, the vessel lumen opening, vessel wall morphology and other associated blood and vessel properties can be precisely assessed in IVUS imaging. Ultrasound transducer, as the key component of an IVUS system, is critical in determining the IVUS imaging performance...

Background: Kounis syndrome is an allergy-related acute coronary syndrome that is induced by various pharmacological and environmental factors. Given that many clinicians are not aware of this condition, many cases may be underdiagnosed. We report a case of type II Kounis syndrome induced by phloroglucinol. Case Summary: A 52-year-old man with pre-existing coronary artery stenosis presented with a 30-min history of chest pain and erythematous rash after intramuscular administration of phloroglucinol. An electrocardiogram demonstrated ST-segment elevation in leads II, III and aVF...

INTRODUCTION: Despite the challenge of a global pandemic, 2020 has been an invaluable year in cardiology research with numerous important clinical trials published or presented virtually at major international meetings. This article aims to summarise these trials and place them in clinical context. METHODS: The authors reviewed clinical trials presented at major cardiology conferences during 2020 including the American College of Cardiology, European Association for Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions, European Society of Cardiology, Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics and the American Heart Association...

In the last decades, significant advances have been made in the preventive approaches to cardiovascular disease. Even so, coronary artery disease remains one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Invasive imaging modalities, such as intravascular ultrasound or optical coherence tomography, have played a key role in the comprehension of the pathological processes underlying myocardial infarction and cerebrovascular disease. These imaging techniques have contributed greatly to the identification and phenotyping of the culprit lesion, the so-called vulnerable plaque...

Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) is a catheter-based invasive imaging modality that has become an essential adjunctive tool to percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) over the past 20 years. Clinical applications of IVUS in PCI include assessment of lesion severity, characterizing plaque morphology, optimization of acute stent results and clarification of mechanisms of stent failure. Numerous meta-analyses of large observational and randomized studies support the role of IVUS-guided PCI in reducing short and long-term adverse outcomes, including mortality and stent failure, particularly in patients receiving drug-eluting stents (DESs) and in complex lesion subsets...

Cardiac output may increase after volume administration with relative intravascular volume depletion, or after ultrafiltration (UF) with relative intravascular volume overload. Assessing relative intravascular volume using respiratory/ventilatory changes in inferior vena cava (IVC) diameters may guide volume management to optimize cardiac output in critically ill patients requiring hemodialysis (HD) and/or UF.We retrospectively studied 22 critically ill patients having relative intravascular volume assessed by IVC Collapsibility Index (IVC CI) = (IVCmax-IVCmin)/IVCmax*100%, within 24 h of cardiac output measurement, during 37 intermittent and 21 continuous HD encounters...

Epidemiological evidence suggests that fine particulate matter (PM2.5 ) in air pollution promotes the formation of deep venous thrombosis. However, no evidence is available on the effects of PM2.5 lead to disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). For the first time, this study explored the effects of PM2.5 on DIC via coagulation disorders in vivo. SD rats received intratracheal instillation of PM2.5 once every three days for one month. Doppler ultrasound showed that the pulmonary valve (PV) and aortic valve (AV) peak flow were decreased after exposure to PM2...

The American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine's Third Practice Advisory on local anesthetic systemic toxicity is an interim update from its 2010 advisory. The advisory focuses on new information regarding the mechanisms of lipid resuscitation, updated frequency estimates, the preventative role of ultrasound guidance, changes to case presentation patterns, and limited information related to local infiltration anesthesia and liposomal bupivacaine. In addition to emerging information, the advisory updates recommendations pertaining to prevention, recognition, and treatment of local anesthetic systemic toxicity...

Development of new atherosclerotic lesions within the neointima of stented vessels has been recognized as a novel disease manifestation of atherosclerosis (neoatherosclerosis), often manifesting as in-stent restenosis (ISR) or in-stent thrombosis (ST). The pathobiology of this entity is still not fully understood and definite diagnosis is challenging owing to limitations in resolution of contemporary intravascular imaging modalities and lack of consequent histopathology correlation studies. Yet, intravascular imaging has emerged as the gold standard for the diagnosis of in-stent pathologies, the most routinely used modalities being intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and optical coherence tomography (OCT)...