Clinical insights of non-obstructive general angioscopy for assessing atherosclerotic pathology of aortic valve in vivo.

Non-obstructive general angioscopy (NOGA) images of severe aortic valve stenosis (AS) and atherosclerotic aorta were documented. Atheromatous embolization is known as an important complication of endovascular therapy for severe AS. However, it is hard to detect atherosclerotic changes of the aortic valve and atheromatous aorta related to them in the in-vivo setting. NOGA, which is a novel imaging modality for the aorta and aortic valves, can visualize atherosclerosis of aortic intima vividly. NOGA may play a role in risk stratification for atheromatous embolism with endovascular therapy. We reported a case of severe AS and atheromatous aorta to evaluate before an operation with NOGA.