[Coronary artery plaque assessment using Volcano Therapeutics' Virtual Histology intravascular ultrasound and...

This study investigated the tissue characterization of human coronary artery plaque using Virtual Histology intravascular ultrasound (VH-IVUS) and temperature guide wire.

Between August 2005 and December 2005, VH-IVUS examination and guide wire based measurement of coronary temperature were performed in 66 patients: 39 with stable angina pectoris (SAP), and 27 with unstable angina pectoris(UAP). Patients in the acute myocardial infarction with necrotic tissue and thrombus were excluded. After measurement of distal coronary pressure and coronary temperature, the following tissue types of atherosclerotic plaque were evaluated by VH-IVUS: fibrotic, fibro-fatty, dense calcium and necrotic core. Occurrence of fibro-fatty tissue was significantly higher in UAP patients than in SAP patients (17.4 +/- 7.0% vs 11.2 +/- 5.2%, p = 0.04), and coronary temperature was significantly higher in UAP patients than in SAP patients (0.08 +/- 0.05 vs 0.03 +/- 0.02 degrees C, p = 0.01).

These results suggest that the combination of VH-IVUS analysis and measurement of coronary temperature may be able to predict the progression of lesions.