Systems and methods of increasing blood flow in a blood vessel with
ultraluminal plaque. One disclosed method includes inserting an imaging
guidewire into the blood vessel to the intraluminal plaque, propelling a
catheter with a working head over the guidewire towards the distal end of
the guidewire, scanning with the imaging guidewire to generate a
cross-section image, radially positioning the catheter using a
positioning element, monitoring the image to ascertain that the working
head is properly positioned and operating the working head to remove the
plaque. A computerized system designed, constructed and configured to
perform the methods is further disclosed.