Discrimination of the intravascular lumen and dissections in a single 30- MHz US image: Use of 'confounding' blood backscatter to advantage

At 30-MHz intravascular ultrasound, the high-intensity backscatter of blood confounds discrimination of the intravascular lumen from the arterial wall. The authors developed and used a subtraction method to visualize the lumen and dissections through cancellation of backscatter from static areas. In two patients who underwent angioplasty of the superficial femoral artery, the residual hyperechoic pattern created by moving blood allowed good differentiation between the wall and lumen or dissections.