3D optical coherence tomography (OCT) — An investigation of intimal-medial thickness (IMT) and Wall Shear Stress (WSS) in a patient's coronary artery

Current OCT presents only two-dimensional (2D) slices, which limit the spatial information available. We have developed three-dimensional (3D) OCT methodology by combining OCT with biplane angiography, allowing reconstruction of a realistic lumen of coronary arteries with higher local resolution than by other methods, e.g. intravascular ultrasound (IVUS). Intimal-medial thickening (IMT) in the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery of a patient were investigated by OCT and IVUS. An inverse relationship between WSS obtained through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and IMT as determined from the intravascular imaging techniques was found. The relationship is consistent with previous results from autopsy studies.