In Vivo Assessment of Culprit Lesion Morphology in Acute Coronary Syndrome Using Optical Coherence Tomography

Authors

  • Konstantina Bouki
  • Thomas Apostolou

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2015/hc.v3i1%20sup.120

Abstract

Autopsy studies suggest that acute myocardial infarction is provoked by sudden disruption of thin-cap fibroatheromas, known as vulnerable plaques followed by subsequent thrombosis. The pathological characteristics of vulnerable plaques include a thin fibrous cap with macrophage infiltration and a large lipid pool. These findings are based largely on postmortem studies because it has previously not been possible to accurately define coronary plaque morphology in vivo. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an optical analogue of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) that has recently been proposed as a high-resolution imaging method for plaque characterization. Its resolution is approximately 10 to 20 μm, which is about 10 times higher that IVUS. The histology controlled studies have shown that OCT can evaluate the characteristics of culprit lesions such as fibrous cap thickness, fibrous cap macrophage density, lipid core and intracoronary thrombus.In this case report we used OCT for in vivo assessment of culprit lesion morphology in a patient with acute coronary syndrome.

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Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 sup (2008)

Section

Athens Cardiology Update 2008

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