[Intravascular ultrasound: limitation and prospects]

The aims of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) are visualization of the arterial wall, characterization of the arterial plaque, measurement of vessel diameter and endoluminal procedure assessment. The main sources of errors are: limitation of resolution, distortion of images due to non uniform angular velocity of mechanical type transducers, overestimation or underestimation of cross sectional area secondary to eccentric position or non coaxial orientation of the catheter. Awareness of these problems may prevent misinterpretations. Combined balloon imaging catheters, forward-looking sector scanners and ultrasound imaging guide wires may be achieve by miniaturization of transducers. Three dimensional imaging, blood flow quantification, local elasticity of tissues may be achieve by new softwares.