Balloon angioplasty optimization: should we measure balloon volume as well as pressure?
The measurement of pressure and volume during angioplasty enabled the construction of pressure/volume curves that showed deviations from the curves obtained in air. The balloon volume results, and significant deviation of the curve shape from the control curve shape, predicted vessel damage, which was confirmed by the IVUS appearance of the vessel after angioplasty. When pressure was used as the endpoint of balloon inflation the balloons were significantly underdilated compared with the manufacturer's nominal sizes. These data indicate that monitoring of pressure and volume during angioplasty may provide an alternative method of predicting vessel damage.
Building on previous research showing that problems with understanding numerical information often do not reside in the mind but in the representation of the problem, the results show that icon arrays are an effective method of eliminating denominator neglect.