New Insights Into the Coronary Artery Bifurcation : Hypothesis-Generating Concepts Utilizing 3-Dimensional Optical Frequency Domain Imaging

Coronary artery bifurcations are a common challenging lesion subset accounting for approximately 10% to 20% of all percutaneous coronary interventions. The provisional T-stenting approach is generally recommended as the first-line management of most lesions. Carina shift is suggested to be the predominant mechanism of side-branch pinching during provisional T-stenting and has been indirectly inferred from bench work and other intravascular imaging modalities. Offline 3-dimensional (3D) reconstructions of patients studied in the first-in-man trial of the high-frequency (160 frames/s) Terumo optical frequency domain imaging system were undertaken using volume-rendering software. Through a series of 3D reconstructions, several novel hypothesis-generating concepts are presented.