Kazuo Harasawa

Variability in quantitative measurement of the same segment with two different intravascular ultrasound systems: In vivo and in vitro studies

We evaluated two different intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) systems, Atlantis and Intrafocus, to verify their accuracy and reproducibility. In an in vivo study on 20 consecutive patients with coronary artery diseases, the minimum lumen diameter (MLD), vessel diameter, lumen area (LA), vessel area, plaque area, and area stenosis rate (% AS) were respectively measured. In an in vitro study, MLD and LA were measured in four metal tubes with different diameters. All of the measured values except for % AS by Atlantis were significantly larger than the values obtained with Intrafocus. Nonuniform rotational distortion (NURD) was estimated as 34% in Atlantis and 1% in Intrafocus. The measurements by Atlantis were larger than the true values while the measurements by Intrafocus were less than the true values in all four metal tubes. These findings suggest that we should clearly avoid the use of different IVUS systems in the same study. Catheter Cardiovasc Interv 2004;62:175–180.

Multiple cardiovascular stenoses in a 66-year-old woman with neurofibromatosis type 1: virtual-histology intravascular ultrasound findings

A 66-year-old Japanese woman with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), also known as von Recklinghausen disease, visited our hospital with worsened dyspnoea and diagnosed congestive heart failure. She presented a differential blood pressure in the forearm arteries, vascular bruits in the right cervical region and periumbilical region, and left ventricular dysfunction on the echocardiogram. Both coronary and