In The News
New Heart Technology for Patients with Coronary Artery Disease
Groundbreaking Ultrasound Technology is Poised to Re-Shape Assessment of Coronary Artery Disease
White Memorial Medical Center was the first in Los Angeles to introduce a revolutionary new technology, VHT IVUS system that allows clinicians to classify tissue composition (vulnerable plaque) within the arteries.
This is the first invasive technology to enable real time (in the cardiac catheterization lab) compositional assessment of atherosclerotic plaques in coronary arteries. The VHT IVUS technology is now available on new VOLCANO systems or as an upgrade to VOLCANO's installed base of Intravascular Ultrasound ("IVUS") systems in medical centers throughout the world.
"We are very pleased to be one of the first hospitals to use this new technology and bring the latest technology to our patients, said Crystal Davis, Director of The Heart and Vascular Care Center at White Memorial.
An Important Advance in Diagnostic Imaging
Previously, assessment of atherosclerotic disease was limited to 2D views of symptom-causing narrowing of the coronary arteries by way of contrast agent-enhanced X-Ray imaging. More recently, grayscale IVUS (Intravascular Ultrasound) allowed for quantification of atherosclerotic plaque build-up, in addition to providing precise measurements of vessel anatomy to guide optimal angioplasty or stent-based treatment.
"My view of coronary artery disease has been transformed by the great advantage of having access to the Virtual Histology technology," said Rainier Manzanilla, M.D., cardiologists at White Memorial. "I had patients with normal stress echo and normal stress thallium and near normal coronary angiogram with significant plaques (vulnerable plaque) in the walls of their coronaries - filled with necrotic tissue ready to rupture, usually resulting in a massive heart attack which would be fatal at least 50 percent of the time. These vulnerable plaques are missed by the conventional diagnostic tests available to us up to now."
Volcano's new VH IVUS technology uses advanced spectral analysis techniques to allow simplified interpretation of ultrasound images and provide detailed information on the composition of each patient's atherosclerotic plaques. The colorized VH images show four plaque component types: fibrous, fibro-fatty, dense calcium, and necrotic core. VH IVUS images are created using VOLCANO's imaging console along with the Eagle EyeT Gold IVUS imaging catheter. Images are displayed live, in the cath lab for easy review by the interventional cardiologist and his or her staff while the patient remains on the table. No changes to standard clinical practice are required to employ VH IVUS. This novel technology provides automated measurement tools to simplify image interpretation and employs a pre-determined color key to display plaque composition at a specific point in the artery or across a region of interest.
About Heart Disease
Heart disease and stroke, the principal manifestations of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, is the #1 killer of men and women in the Western world. Half of all men will develop heart disease. Atherosclerosis is the underlying mechanism for coronary artery disease, ischemic strokes, and peripheral vascular disease. VH IVUS has the potential to revolutionize the management of coronary artery disease by providing more information about atherosclerosis in the form of arterial plaque composition assessment. Information on the basic composition of coronary plaques has previously been unavailable to clinicians — except at autopsy.
Read a story about this technology on NBC11...
Posted 1/29/07
