Fractal texture analysis: an aid to tissue characterisation with intravascular ultrasound

Coronary artery disease is a condition responsible for many acute coronary syndromes. The ability to categorise diseased arterial tissue belonging to distinct pathological groups would contribute to the understanding of the pathophysiologic structure of individual lesions, as well as making a significant contribution to treatment choice. Here, the authors investigate the use of fractal texture analysis techniques to assess the ability of 30 MHz intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) data, in raw form, to characterise intracoronary disease from samples of: foam cells (FC); foam cells containing lipid (LIP FC) and loose fibrotic tissue (LFT). Histological analysis was used to form a gold standard from which the results were verified. The results show inadequate discrimination of the sub-groups studied but highlight the need for a less comprehensive list of disease categories for discrimination with IVUS, where, it would appear that the resolution limitations of the imaging system prevent the original sub-groups defined by histological examination from being observed