Intravascular Lithotripsy for the Treatment of Stent Underexpansion: The Multicenter IVL-DRAGON Registry.

Background: Whereas the efficacy and safety of intravascular lithotripsy (IVL) have been confirmed in de novo calcified coronary lesions, little is known about its utility in treating stent underexpansion. This study aimed to investigate the impact of IVL in treating stent underexpansion. Methods and Results: Consecutive patients with stent underexpansion treated with IVL entered the multicenter IVL-Dragon Registry.

Multimodality imaging of intermediate lesions: Data from fractional flow reserve, optical coherence tomography, near-infrared spectroscopy-intravascular ultrasound.

Background: Fractional flow reserve (FFR) assesses a functional impact of the atheroma on the myocardial ischemia, but it does not take into account the morphology of the lesion. Previous optical coherence tomography (OCT), intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) studies presented their potential to detect vulnerable plaques, which is not possible by FFR assessment. With the following study, the intermediate lesions were assessed by FFR, OCT and combined NIRS-IVUS imaging to identify plaque vulnerability.