THE SIGNIFICANCE OF INTRAVASCULAR ULTRASO UND FOR ANGIOGRAPHICALLY UNDERESTIMATED CORONARY FINDINGS - AN ILLUSTRATION IN 2 CASES

Coronary angiography is considered to be the most important component in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease. Only the lumen may be vis ualized using contrast radiography of the coronary arteries, however. With intravascular ultrasound, on the other hand, pathological changes in the vascular wall can be recorded. Despite typical symptoms, an an giographical image of the coronary arteries is sometimes unable to sho w unambiguous stenotic lesions of the coronary arteries. In such cases , intravascular ultrasound provides a new complementary diagnostic too l for detecting even early forms of arteriosclerosis or angiographical ly underestimated coronary findings. Two cases are used to illustrate this. In those, angiographic visualization of the coronary arteries wa s unable to produce an unambiguous finding despite typical clinical sy mptoms, yet intravascular ultrasound could detect considerable arterio sclerotic wall changes.