Vulnerable Atherosclerotic Plaque: From the Basic Research Laboratory to the Clinic

Abstract

Coronary heart disease is the commonest cause of death in Western countries, and atherosclerotic plaques that are prone to rupture have been implicated in the pathogenesis of acute coronary syndromes (ACS). Intensive research has been directed at plaque detection, and various invasive methods have been developed thus far that fulfill this purpose and a lot of them are being applied in the clinical setting. Since invasive methods cannot be used for primary prevention, non-invasive imaging modalities are being studied to enhance the diagnostic armory of clinicians in their difficult task of detecting and preventing ACS.

Levels of interleukin-33 and interleukin-6 in patients with acute coronary syndrome or stable angina

“…Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is one of the most critical clinical syndromes and rupture of vulnerable plaque in the coronary artery is considered to be responsible for the pathogenesis of acute coronary syndrome [1]. Studies have shown the process of in ammation a ects the stability of the atherosclerotic plaque and may be the initiating link of the early stages of atherosclerosis [2].…”

Coronary CT Angiography and the Napkin-ring Sign Indicates High-Risk Atherosclerotic Lesions

“…Early identification of such plaques could facilitate timely initiation of adequate primary prevention measures, thus diminishing the incidence of acute coronary events [29]. For this purpose, several imaging methods have been proposed, including IVUS, optical coherence tomography (OCT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), or MDCT (Table 1), with variable success [30,31,32]. However, the use of many of these methods is mainly confined to experimental studies and has not yet been validated for everyday clinical practice.…”

Spatial encoding using the nonlinear field perturbations from magnetic materials

“…Eq. [1] can be used to calculate the field perturbations generated by the magnetic marker depicted in Figure 1a.…”

“…In this equation, Df r; u ð Þ is calculated from Eq. [1] and u refers to angle of the device with respect to its own axis (see Fig. 2) and q r ð Þ is the spin density vector.…”

“…Experimentally measured field perturbations were used in an optimization process to further validate the numerical model described in Eq. [1]. The least-square error between the experimental and simulated field perturbations was minimized to estimate the volume susceptibility values of the marker as well as its physical location.…”