Tag Archives: optical coherence tomography

Introduction Lipoprotein(a) (figure 1) has emerged as an independent and causal risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and cerebrovascular diseases with prospective epidemiological studies demonstrating a link between elevated Lp(a) levels and increased incidence of ischaemic heart disease (IHD) and myocardial infarction (MI).1 The value of this association is that it was seen to be independent of traditional cardiovascular (CV) risk factors including diabetes, hypertension and smoking.1 Moreover, Lp(a) levels greater than 50 mg/dL were associated with a threefold increase in acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in younger patient cohorts (

Introduction Table 1. Image characteristics of optical coherence tomography (OCT) Optical coherence tomography (OCT) uses near-infrared electromagnetic radiation, and cross-sectional images are generated by measuring the echo time delay and intensity of light that is reflected or back-scattered from internal structures in the tissue.1,2 Current OCT images are obtained at the peak wavelength in the 1,280–1,350 nm band that enables a 10–15 µm tissue axial resolution, 94 µm lateral resolution at 3 mm, and maximal scan diameter of 6–8 mm (about 10 times resolution as compared with intravascular ultrasound [IVUS]). There are two main tech