Monitoring coronary artery stent deployment in living human patients with optical coherence tomography

Summary form only given. In this preliminary study, we have demonstrated that intravascular OCT imaging following stent deployment is feasible and permits the high resolution visualization of detailed vessel wall structure within and adjacent to stents. The data obtained from imaging eleven stents in ten patients indicates that with OCT: (1) stent strut apposition to the vessel lumen can be accurately determined, (2) superficial calcium can be identified within stents, (3) the detailed structure of the vessel wall can be visualized within stents, (4) dissections within and adjacent to stents can be identified, and (5) even small protrusions of tissue through stent struts can be quantified. The improved ability of OCT to visualize vessel and stent structure may provide a new tool for accurately monitoring stent deployment and understanding in-stent restenosis.