Offline fusion of co-registered intravascular ultrasound and frequency domain optical coherence tomography images for the analysis of human atherosclerotic plaques

Abstract

To demonstrate the feasibility and potential usefulness of an offline fusion of matched optical coherence tomography (OCT) and intravascular ultrasound (IVUS)/virtual histology (IVUS-VH) images. A total of nine matched OCT, IVUS, and IVUS-VH cross-sections were fused according to a methodology described in this report. On the basis of the fused images, an OCT-IVUS-VH tissue classification algorithm is proposed taking into account the individual strength of both techniques. Offline fusion of co-registered IVUS and OCT is feasible and combines the strengths of both imaging modalities, potentially improving the diagnostic accuracy of plaque characterisation.