Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Cardiol. Sep 26, 2021; 13(9): 416-437
Published online Sep 26, 2021. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v13.i9.416
Stent visualization methods to guide percutaneous coronary interventions and assess long-term patency
Chadi Ghafari, Stéphane Carlier
Chadi Ghafari, Stéphane Carlier, Department of Cardiology, UMONS, Mons 7000, Belgium
Stéphane Carlier, Department of Cardiology, CHU Ambroise Paré, Mons 7000, Belgium
Author contributions: Ghafari C and Carlier S equally contributed to this work; all authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no any conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Stéphane Carlier, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Cardiology, UMONS, Avenue Maistriau 25, Mons 7000, Belgium. stephane.carlier@umons.ac.be
Received: March 25, 2021
Peer-review started: March 25, 2021
First decision: May 13, 2021
Revised: May 24, 2021
Accepted: July 22, 2021
Article in press: July 22, 2021
Published online: September 26, 2021
Abstract

Evaluation of acute percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) results and long-term follow-up remains challenging with ongoing stent designs. Several imaging tools have been developed to assess native vessel atherosclerosis and stent expansion, improving overall PCI results and reducing adverse cardiac events. Quantitative coronary analysis has played a crucial role in quantifying the extent of coronary artery disease and stent results. Digital stent enhancement methods have been well validated and improved stent strut visualization. Intravascular imaging remains the gold standard in PCI guidance but adds costs and time to the procedure. With a recent shift towards non-invasive imaging assessment and coronary computed tomography angiography imaging have shown promising results. We hereby review novel stent visualization techniques used to guide PCI and assess stent patency in the modern PCI era.

Keywords: Percutaneous coronary intervention, Stent visualization, Stent underexpansion, Quantitative coronary analysis, Digital stent enhancement, Intravascular ultrasound, Optical coherence tomography, Coronary computed tomography angiography

Core Tip: Evaluation of acute and long-term percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) results remains challenging. We hereby review current available tools for guiding and assessing PCI results.