Aims: To demonstrate the feasibility and potential usefulness of an offline fusion of matched optical coherence tomography (OCT) and intravascular ultrasound (IVUS)/virtual histology (IVUS-VH) images.
Methods and results: A total of nine matched OCT, IVUS, and IVUS-VH cross-sections were fused according to a methodology described in this report. On the basis of the fused images, an OCT-IVUS-VH tissue classification algorithm is proposed taking into account the individual strength of both techniques.
Conclusions: Offline fusion of co-registered IVUS and OCT is feasible and combines the strengths of both imaging modalities, potentially improving the diagnostic accuracy of plaque characterisation.
Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00962416.