Coronary interventions

Tangential signal dropout artefact in optical frequency domain imaging

EuroIntervention 2021;17:e326-e331. DOI: 10.4244/EIJ-D-20-00014

Hiroki Shibutani
Hiroki Shibutani1, MD; Kenichi Fujii1, MD; Rika Kawakami2, MD, PhD; Takahiro Imanaka3, MD, PhD; Kenji Kawai3, MD, PhD; Satoshi Tsujimoto1, MD, PhD; Koichiro Matsumura1, MD, PhD; Munemitsu Otagaki1, MD; Shun Morishita1, MD; Kenta Hashimoto1, MD; Seiichi Hirota2, MD, PhD; Ichiro Shiojima1, MD, PhD
1. Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine II, Kansai Medical University, Hirakata, Japan; 2. Division of Surgical Pathology, Hyogo College of Medicine, Nishinomiya, Japan; 3. Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and Coronary Heart Disease, Hyogo College of Medicine, Nishinomiya, Japan

Background: Tangential signal dropout (TSD), which occurs when the optical frequency domain imaging (OFDI) beam strikes the vessel wall under a glancing angle and travels almost parallel to the vessel wall, is the most important imaging artefact leading to the erroneous diagnosis of lipid-rich plaques.

Aims: This study aimed to evaluate the OFDI artefact of TSD, which mimics the appearance of lipid-rich plaque and macrophage (Mø) infiltration.

Methods: A total of 1,019 histological cross-sections from 23 autopsy hearts were matched with the corresponding OFDI images. Of these, 232 OFDI cross-sections that contained signal-poor regions with diffuse borders were classified as lipid-rich plaques. The angle θ was calculated between the OFDI beam that strikes the edge of the luminal surface of the low-intensity region and that which strikes the surface line of the low-intensity region.

Results: On histological evaluation, 182 (78%) cross-sections were classified as histologically lipidic/Mø infiltration, while the remaining 50 (22%) cross-sections were classified as histologically non-lipidic/Mø infiltration. The angle θ was significantly smaller in the non-lipidic/Mø infiltration group than in the lipidic/Mø infiltration group (12±6° versus 37±14°, p<0.001). Receiver operating curve analysis revealed that the optimal cut-off value of the incident angle for predicting TSD was 23° with an area under the curve of 0.98.

Conclusions: When the OFDI imaging beam strikes the tissue at an angle θ<23°, TSD artefact could occur. To eliminate image misinterpretation, our findings suggest that the OFDI catheter geometry should be considered for the accurate diagnosis of lipid-rich plaques and Mø infiltration.

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optical coherence tomographyclinical researchstable angina
Coronary interventionsStable CAD
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