Intravascular ultrasound chirp imaging

We demonstrate the feasibility of intravascular ultrasound chirp imaging. Chirp excitations were emitted with a 34 MHz single crystal intravascular transducer and compared to conventional Gaussian modulated pulses of equal peak negative pressure. The signal to noise ratio of the chirp images was increased up to 9 dB. The method shows potential for intravascular imaging of structures in and beyond coronary atherosclerotic plaques.