Current research and future prospects of IVOCT imaging‐based detection of the vascular lumen and vulnerable plaque

Intravascular optical coherence tomography (IVOCT) is an imaging method that has developed rapidly in recent years and is useful in coronary atherosclerosis diagnosis. It is widely used in the assessment of vulnerable plaque. This review summarizes the main research methods used in recent years for blood vessel lumen boundary detection and segmentation and vulnerable plaque segmentation and classification. This article aims to comprehensively and systematically introduce the research progress on internal tissues of blood vessels based on IVOCT images. The characteristics and advantages of various methods have been summarized to provide theoretical ideas and methods for the reference of relevant researchers and scholars. Intravascular optical coherence tomography (IVOCT) is a recently developed imaging method useful in coronary atherosclerosis diagnosis. The two main questions studied in this review are the detection and segmentation of the vascular lumen boundary and the segmentation and classification of vulnerable plaques. By introducing the research progress of internal tissues of blood vessels based on IVOCT images, this paper summarizes the advantages of various methods to provide theoretical ideas and methodology for the reference of relevant researchers and scholars.