Background: For the identification of functionally significant coronary artery disease, there have not been any dedicated optical coherence tomography (OCT) studies reported previously, although OCT can clearly detect coronary vessel lumina at higher resolution than intravascular ultrasound (IVUS). Methods and Results: OCT and fractional flow reserve (FFR) measurements were performed in 62 intermediate coronary lesions in 59 patients. FFR was calculated as the ratio of distal coronary pressure divided by proximal coronary pressure during maximal hyperemia. FFR <0.75 was used as the threshold for diagnosing functionally significant stenosis. Minimal lumen area (MLA), minimal lumen diameter (MLD) and percent lumen ...

Aims The importance of oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) has been implicated in the process of plaque rupture. However, few previous studies demonstrated the relationship between plaque morphology and oxLDL. We evaluated the relationship between coronary plaque vulnerability assessed by optical coherence tomography (OCT) and circulating malondialdehyde-modified low-density lipoprotein (MDA-LDL). Methods and results OCT was used to determine plaque vulnerability in 102 patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS; n = 53) and stable angina pectoris (SAP; n = 49). Circulating levels of MDA-LDL were measured by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Thin-cap fibroatheromas (TCFAs; defined as lipid-rich with plaque cap thickness

Background Neointima inside the bare-metal stents (BMSs) can transform into atherosclerotic tissue during an extended follow-up because of a persistent inflammatory reaction to the metal. We sought to investigate whether strut thickness may impact on the atherosclerotic change in neointima 4 years or more after BMS implantation using optical coherence tomography. Methods Forty-six stented lesions of 41 patients with BMS ≥4 years after implantation who underwent optical coherence tomography were enrolled in the study. The strut was defined as thin when less than 100 μm and thick when ≥100 μm. According to these criteria, stents were divided into 2 groups ...

Although an intracoronary frequency-domain optical coherence tomography (FD-OCT) system overcomes several limitations of the time-domain OCT (TD-OCT) system, the former requires injection of contrast media for image acquisition. The increased total amount of contrast media for FD-OCT image acquisition may lead to the impairment of renal function. The safety and usefulness of the non-occlusion method with low-molecular-weight dextran L (LMD-L) via a guiding catheter for TD-OCT image acquisition have been reported previously. The aim of the present study was to compare the image quality and quantitative measurements between contrast media and LMD-L for FD-OCT image acquisition in coronary stented lesions ...