Value of intravascular ultrasound for coronary artery diffuse plaque

Objective:To evaluate the effect of IVUS and compare it with coronary artery angiography(CAG) in the diagnosis of coronary artery diffuse plaque.Method:Patients with coronary artery diffuse narrow or suspected CAD were enrolled in this study.Thirty-nine coronary arteries(LAD:16 cases,LCX:12 cases,RAC:11 cases) segments from 39 patients were measured by IVUS and CAG.The effect of IVUS and CAG were compared.Result:The degree of arterial stenosis(percentages of stenosed arterial area) and the mean lendth of plaque in CAG were significantly less than IVUS([39.48±9.33]mm vs [30.26±8.57]mm),P0.05.The lumen morphology and plaque characteristics could not be found in CAG,but revealed very well by IVUS.Conclusion:For the diffuse intravascular plaques,CAG significantly underestimates the degree of vascular lesions.The lumen morphology and plaque characteristics which were not found in CAG can be revealed very well by IVUS.IVUS has an important clinical value in the diffuse intravascular plaque.