Improvements in results after vascular intervention are partly due to advances in diagnostic imaging. The trend toward noninvasive diagnosis has also reduced patient exposure to undue risk. Normal and pathologic aortic, carotid, and lower-extremity vasculature can be imaged precisely by using a combination of ultrasound, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging techniques before definitive open or minimally invasive reconstruction of occlusive or aneurysmal disease. These same imaging modalities, which were developed for the clinical management of patients, are also helping investigators study the biology of atherosclerosis in vivo in ways never before imagined.
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