Enhanced characterization of calcified areas in intravascular ultrasound virtual histology images by quantification of the acoustic shadow: validation against computed tomography coronary angiography

We enhance intravascular ultrasound virtual histology (VH) tissue characterization by fully automatic quantification of the acoustic shadow behind calcified plaque. VH is unable to characterize atherosclerosis located behind calcifications. In this study, the quantified acoustic shadows are considered calcified to approximate the real dense calcium (DC) plaque volume. In total, 57 patients with 108 coronary lesions were included. A novel...