The use of dextran and carbon dioxide for optical coherence tomography in the superficial femoral artery.

The following case report describes using carbon dioxide (CO2) as contrast media for intravascular optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging in the superficial femoral artery. For initial OCT imaging, 20 mL of iodinated contrast was used during automated pullback. This was followed by 20 mL of hand-injected dextran 40 in normal saline, and finally hand-injected 50 mL of CO2. CO2 gave comparable erythrocyte clearance and imaging quality compared with dextran and iodinated contrast. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case using both dextran and CO2 with OCT imaging of the superficial femoral artery. Using CO2 is a viable option in patients with contraindications to contrast or dextran use.