Towards an IVUS-driven system for endovascular navigation

A new platform for guidance during intravascular procedures is presented in this study. Endovascular interventions comprise the most popular treatment options for cardiovascular events typically related to a complex disease of the vascular wall, named atherosclerosis. The abovementioned procedures are currently guided by real-time 2D representations of the vessel blood pool area using ionizing X-ray radiation and several contrast agent injections. The catheter may be tracked via electromagnetic tracking (EM) systems which add noise, complexity and extra costs to the setup. Under certain conditions, an intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) catheter may be used to collect valuable transverse images of the vessel for characterization. Here, we present a system for navigation during endovascular interventions based solely on IVUS data and a previously conducted tomographic scan (CT) of the patient´s vasculature. Its primary novelty lies in the complete independence from X-rays, injected contrast agents and EM tracking error susceptibility.