Performance of ICE/IVUS for PV imaging
No significant differences in terms of trackability were observed between ICE and IVUS catheters (additional procedural time required for imaging: ICE = 24.8 ± 3.4 min, IVUS = 25 ± 3.5 min, p = 0.95; no procedural complications).
As shown in Table 1, ICE produced higher imaging quality than IVUS (χ2= 35,415; p < 0.001).
Compared to IVUS, ICE also performed better in terms of inter-observer reproducibility of PV measurements, as showed in Table B of the supplementary section. Although both techniques showed excellent ICC values for PV lumen measurements, IVUS showed only moderate ICC values for PV vessel and wall thickness measurements, as compared to good and excellent ICC values exhibited by ICE for corresponding measurements.