Intravascular Ultrasound
The following article provides a brief description of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS).

For more in-depth information, late-breaking articles and interviews with cardiologists who are using intravascular ultrasound to improve patient care, visit our special Intravascular Ultrasound Center.

For many years the only way of directly viewing the coronary arteries was through angiography, or catheterization.

With the invention and refinement of intravascular coronary ultrasound (IVUS) it is became possible to thread a tiny ultrasound "camera" into the coronary arteries to give a valuable cross-sectional view from the inside-out, showing the physician where the normal artery wall ends and the plaque begins.

The Future
These and other new devices are being developed continually and the information gathered through the use of catheter-based interventions may ultimately reveal the true mechanism of plaque formation. As this knowledge is applied in the field of molecular biology, promising new research and drug therapies may provide a way to prevent restenosis and plaque formation from occurring and yield an answer for conquering coronary artery disease.