Identifying the vulnerable plaque: A review of invasive and non-invasive imaging modalities

Artery Research

Volumn 2, Issue 1, 2008, Pages 21-34

  Kips, Jan G ^a,b   Segers, Patrick ^a   Van Bortel, Luc M ^b  

^a GHENT UNIVERSITY   (Belgium)

^b GHENT UNIVERSITY   (Belgium)

Author keywords

Atherosclerosis; Cardiovascular disease; Clinical imaging; Plaque

Indexed keywords

ANGIOSCOPY; APOPTOSIS; ATHEROSCLEROSIS; ATHEROSCLEROTIC PLAQUE; CORONARY ARTERY; DIAGNOSTIC IMAGING; ELASTOGRAPHY; HUMAN; IMAGING SYSTEM; INTRAVASCULAR ULTRASOUND; LIPID STORAGE; MACROPHAGE; MULTIDETECTOR COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY; NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING; OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY; POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY; PRIORITY JOURNAL; RADIOFREQUENCY; REVIEW; SINGLE PHOTON EMISSION COMPUTER TOMOGRAPHY; SPECTROSCOPY; THERMOGRAPHY; THROMBOCYTE; ULTRASOUND; X RAY;

EID: 40049094798     PISSN: 18729312     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.artres.2007.11.002     Document Type: Review

References (97)

1. Vaina S., and Stefanadis C. Detection of the vulnerable coronary atheromatous plaque. Where are we now?. Int J Cardiovasc Intervent 7 2 (2005) 75-87
2. Shah P.K. Mechanisms of plaque vulnerability and rupture. J Am Coll Cardiol 41 4 Suppl. S (2003) 15S-22S
3. Galis Z.S., and Khatri J.J. Matrix metalloproteinases in vascular remodeling and atherogenesis - the good, the bad, and the ugly. Circulation Res 90 3 (2002) 251-262
4. Davies M.J. Stability and instability: two faces of coronary atherosclerosis - the Paul Dudley White Lecture 1995. Circulation 94 8 (1996) 2013-2020
5. Davies J.R., Rudd J.F., Fryer T.D., and Weissberg P.L. Targeting the vulnerable plaque: the evolving role of nuclear imaging. J Nucl Cardiol 12 2 (2005) 234-246
6. Shanahan C.M., and Weissberg P.L. Smooth muscle cell heterogeneity - patterns of gene expression in vascular smooth muscle cells in vitro and in vivo. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 18 3 (1998) 333-338
7. Libby P. Current concepts of the pathogenesis of the acute coronary syndromes. Circulation 104 3 (2001) 365-372
8. Hao H.Y., Gabbiani G., and Bochaton-Piallat M.L. Arterial smooth muscle cell heterogeneity - implications for atherosclerosis and restenosis development. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 23 9 (2003) 1510-1520
9. Rudd J.H., Davies J.R., and Weissberg P.L. Imaging of atherosclerosis - can we predict plaque rupture?. Trends Cardiovasc Med 15 1 (2005) 17-24
10. Naghavi M., Libby P., Falk E., Casscells S.W., Litovsky S., Rumberger J., et al. From vulnerable plaque to vulnerable patient - a call for new definitions and risk assessment strategies: Part I. Circulation 108 14 (2003) 1664-1672
11. Fayad Z.A., and Fuster V. Clinical imaging of the high-risk or vulnerable atherosclerotic plaque. Circ Res 89 4 (2001) 305-316
12. MacNeill B.D., Lowe H.C., Takano M., Fuster V., and Jang I.K. Intravascular modalities for detection of vulnerable plaque: current status. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 23 8 (2003) 1333-1342
13. Farb A., Burke A.P., Tang A.L., Liang T.Y., Mannan P., Smialek J., et al. Coronary plaque erosion without rupture into a lipid core. A frequent cause of coronary thrombosis in sudden coronary death. Circulation 93 7 (1996) 1354-1363
14. Virmani R., Kolodgie F.D., Burke A.P., Farb A., and Schwartz S.M. Lessons from sudden coronary death - a comprehensive morphological classification scheme for atherosclerotic lesions. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 20 5 (2000) 1262-1275
15. Schroeder A.P., and Falk E. Vulnerable and dangerous coronary plaques. Atherosclerosis 118 Suppl (1995) S141-S149
16. Falk E., Shah P.K., and Fuster V. Coronary plaque disruption. Circulation 92 3 (1995) 657-671
17. Ambrose J.A., Tannenbaum M.A., Alexopoulos D., Hjemdahl-Monsen C.E., Leavy J., Weiss M., et al. Angiographic progression of coronary artery disease and the development of myocardial infarction. J Am Coll Cardiol 12 1 (1988) 56-62
18. Little W.C., Constantinescu M., Applegate R.J., Kutcher M.A., Burrows M.T., Kahl F.R., et al. Can coronary angiography predict the site of a subsequent myocardial-infarction in patients with mild-to-moderate coronary-artery disease. Circulation 78 5 (1988) 1157-1166
19. Glagov S., Weisenberg E., Zarins C.K., Stankunavicius R., and Kolettis G.J. Compensatory enlargement of human atherosclerotic coronary-arteries. N Engl J Med 316 22 (1987) 1371-1375
20. Crouse J.R., Goldbourt U., Evans G., Pinsky J., Sharrett A.R., Sorlie P., et al. Arterial enlargement in the atherosclerosis risk in communities (Aric) cohort - in-vivo quantification of carotid arterial enlargement. Stroke 25 7 (1994) 1354-1359
21. Stary H.C., Chandler A.B., Dinsmore R.E., Fuster V., Glagov S., Insull Jr. W., et al. A definition of advanced types of atherosclerotic lesions and a histological classification of atherosclerosis. A report from the Committee on Vascular Lesions of the Council on Arteriosclerosis, American Heart Association. Circulation 92 5 (1995) 1355-1374
22. Landini L., Santarelli M.F., Pingitore A., and Positano V. New technological developments in the clinical imaging of atherosclerotic plaque. Curr Pharm Des 9 29 (2003) 2403-2415
23. Galbraith J.E., Murphy M.L., and Desoyza N. Coronary angiogram interpretation - interobserver variability. Jama-J Am Med Assoc 240 19 (1978) 2053-2056
24. Zir L.M., Miller S.W., Dinsmore R.E., Gilbert J.P., and Harthorne J.W. Interobserver variability in coronary angiography. Circulation 53 4 (1976) 627-632
25. Topol E.J., and Nissen S.E. Our preoccupation with coronary luminology - the dissociation between clinical and angiographic findings in ischemic-heart-disease. Circulation 92 8 (1995) 2333-2342
26. Nissen S.E., and Yock P. Intravascular ultrasound: novel pathophysiological insights and current clinical applications. Circulation 103 4 (2001) 604-616
27. Hiro T., Leung C.Y., deGuzman S., Caiozzo V.J., Farvid A.R., Karimi H., et al. Are soft echoes really soft? Intravascular ultrasound assessment of mechanical properties in human atherosclerotic tissue. Am Heart J 133 1 (1997) 1-7
28. Peters R.J., Kok W.E., Havenith M.G., Rijsterborgh H., van der Wal A.C., and Visser C.A. Histopathologic validation of intracoronary ultrasound imaging. J Am Soc Echocardiogr 7 3 Pt 1 (1994) 230-241
29. Stone G.W., Hodgson J.M., Stgoar F.G., Frey A., Mudra H., Sheehan H., et al. Improved procedural results of coronary angioplasty with intravascular ultrasound-guided balloon sizing - The CLOUT pilot trial. Circulation 95 8 (1997) 2044-2052
30. Carlier S.G., and Tanaka K. Studying coronary plaque regression with IVUS: a critical review of recent studies. J Interv Cardiol 19 1 (2006) 11-15
31. Machado J.C., and Foster F.S. Ultrasonic integrated backscatter coefficient profiling of human coronary arteries in vitro. IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control 48 1 (2001) 17-27
32. Kawasaki M., Takatsu H., Noda T., Ito Y., Kunishima A., Arai M., et al. Non-invasive quantitative tissue characterization and two-dimensional color-coded map of human atherosclerotic lesions using ultrasound integrated backscatter - comparison between histology and integrated backscatter images. J Am College Cardiol 38 2 (2001) 486-492
33. Sano K., Kawasaki M., Ishihara Y., Mao M., Tsuchlya K., Nishigaki K., et al. Assessment of vulnerable plaques causing acute coronary syndrome using integrated backscatter intravascular ultrasound. J Am Coll Cardiol 47 4 (2006) 734-741
34. Nair A., Kuban B.D., Tuzcu E.M., Schoenhagen P., Nissen S.E., and Vince D.G. Coronary plaque classification with intravascular ultrasound radiofrequency data analysis. Circulation 106 17 (2002) 2200-2206
35. Konig A., and Klauss V. Virtual histology. Heart 93 8 (2007) 977-982
36. Moore M.P., Spencer T., Salter D.M., Kearney P.P., Shaw T.R.D., Starkey I.R., et al. Characterisation of coronary atherosclerotic morphology by spectral analysis of radiofrequency signal: in vitro intravascular ultrasound study with histological and radiological validation. Heart 79 5 (1998) 459-467
37. Nair A., Calvetti D., and Vince D.G. Regularized autoregressive analysis of intravascular ultrasound backscatter: improvement in spatial accuracy of tissue maps. IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control 51 4 (2004) 420-431
38. Diethrich E.B., Margolis M.P., Reid D.B., Burke A., Ramaiah V., Rodriguez-Lopez J.A., et al. Virtual histology intravascular ultrasound assessment of carotid artery disease: The Carotid Artery Plaque Virtual histology evaluation (CAPITAL) study. J Endovasc Ther 14 5 (2007) 676-686
39. Cespedes I., Ophir J., Ponnekanti H., and Maklad N. Elastography - elasticity imaging using ultrasound with application to muscle and breast in-vivo. Ultrason Imag 15 2 (1993) 73-88
40. Ophir J., Cespedes I., Ponnekanti H., Yazdi Y., and Li X. Elastography - a quantitative method for imaging the elasticity of biological tissues. Ultrason Imag 13 2 (1991) 111-134
41. Schaar J.A., van der Steen A.F.W., Mastik F., Baldewsing R.A., and Serruys P.W. Intravascular palpography for vulnerable plaque assessment. J Am Coll Cardiol 47 8 (2006) C86-C91
42. De Korte C.L., Sierevogel M.J., Mastik F., Strijder C., Schaar J.A., Velema E., et al. Identification of atherosclerotic plaque components with intravascular ultrasound elastography in vivo A Yucatan pig study. Circulation 105 14 (2002) 1627-1630
43. De Korte C.L., Pasterkamp G., van der Steen A.F.W., Woutman H.A., and Bom N. Characterization of plaque components with intravascular ultrasound elastography in human femoral and coronary arteries in vitro. Circulation 102 6 (2000) 617-623
44. Schaar J.A., Mastik F., Regar E., den Uil C.A., Gijsen F.J., Wentzel J.J., et al. Current diagnostic modalities for vulnerable plaque detection. Curr Pharm Des 13 10 (2007) 995-1001
45. Schaar J.A., Regar E., Mastik F., McFadden E.P., Saia F., Disco C., et al. Incidence of high-strain patterns in human coronary arteries - assessment with three-dimensional intravascular palpography and correlation with clinical presentation. Circulation 109 22 (2004) 2716-2719
46. Teirstein P.S., Schatz R.A., Denardo S.J., Jensen E.E., and Johnson A.D. Angioscopic versus angiographic detection of thrombus during coronary interventional procedures. Am J Cardiol 75 16 (1995) 1083-1087
47. Uretsky B.F., Denys B.G., Counihan P.C., and Ragosta M. Angioscopic evaluation of incompletely obstructing coronary intraluminal filling defects - comparison to angiography. Cathet Cardiovasc Diagn 33 4 (1994) 323-329
48. Uchida Y., Nakamura F., Tomaru T., Morita T., Oshima T., Sasaki T., et al. Prediction of acute coronary syndromes by percutaneous coronary angioscopy in patients with stable angina. Am Heart J 130 2 (1995) 195-203
49. Stefanadis C., Vavuranakis M., and Toutouzas P. Vulnerable plaque: the challenge to identify and treat it. J Interv Cardiol 16 3 (2003 Jun) 273-280
50. Miyamoto A., Prieto A.R., Friedl S.E., Lin F.C., Muller J.E., Nesto R.W., et al. Atheromatous plaque cap thickness can be determined by quantitative color analysis during angioscopy: implications for identifying the vulnerable plaque. Clin Cardiol 27 1 (2004) 9-15
51. Cademartiri F., La Grutta L., Palumbo A., Maffei E., Aldrovandi A., Malago R., et al. Imaging techniques for the vulnerable coronary plaque. Radiol Med 112 5 (2007) 637-659
52. Manfrini O., Mont E., Leone O., Arbustini E., Eusebi V., Virmani R., et al. Sources of error and interpretation of plaque morphology by optical coherence tomography. Am J Cardiol 98 2 (2006) 156-159
53. Kawasaki M., Bouma B.E., Bressner J., Houser S.L., Nadkarni S.K., MacNeill B.D., et al. Diagnostic accuracy of optical coherence tomography and integrated backscatter intravascular ultrasound images for tissue characterization of human coronary plaques. J Am Coll Cardiol 48 1 (2006) 81-88
54. Yabushita H., Bourna B.E., Houser S.L., Aretz T., Jang I.K., Schlendorf K.H., et al. Characterization of human atherosclerosis by optical coherence tomography. Circulation 106 13 (2002) 1640-1645
55. Kubo T., Imanishi T., Takarada S., Kuroi A., Ueno S., Yamano T., et al. Assessment of culprit lesion morphology in acute myocardial infarction - ability of optical coherence tomography compared with intravascular ultrasound and coronary angioscopy. J Am Coll Cardiol 50 10 (2007) 933-939
56. MacNeill B.D., Jang I.K., Bouma B.E., Iftimia N., Takano M., Yabushita H., et al. Focal and multi-focal plaque distributions in patients with macrophage acute and stable presentations of coronary artery disease. J Am Coll Cardiol 44 5 (2004) 972-979
57. Yun S.H., Tearney G.J., Vakoc B.J., Shishkov M., Oh W.Y., Desjardins A.E., et al. Comprehensive volumetric optical microscopy in vivo. Nat Med 12 12 (2006) 1429-1433
58. Brezinski M. Characterizing arterial plaque with optical coherence tomography. Curr Opin Cardiol 17 6 (2002) 648-655
59. Casscells W., Hathorn B., David M., Krabach T., Vaughn W.K., McAllister H.A., et al. Thermal detection of cellular infiltrates in living atherosclerotic plaques: possible implications for plaque rupture and thrombosis. Lancet 347 9013 (1996) 1447-1449
60. Stefanadis C., Toutouzas K., Tsiamis E., Stratos C., Vavuranakis M., Kallikazaros I., et al. Increased local temperature in human coronary atherosclerotic plaques: an independent predictor of clinical outcome in patients undergoing a percutaneous coronary intervention. J Am Coll Cardiol 37 5 (2001) 1277-1283
61. Madjid M., Willerson J.T., and Casscells S.W. Intracoronary thermography for detection of high-risk vulnerable plaques. J Am Coll Cardiol 47 Suppl. 8 (2006 Apr 18) C80-C85
62. Verheye S., Van Langenhove G., Diamantopoulos L., Serruys P.W., and Vermeersch P. Temperature heterogeneity is nearly absent in angiographically normal or mild atherosclerotic coronary segments: interim results from a safety study. Am J Cardiol 90 6A (2002) 24H
63. Moreno P.R., Lodder R.A., Purushothaman K.R., Charash W.E., O'Connor W.N., and Muller J.E. Detection of lipid pool, thin fibrous cap, and inflammatory cells in human aortic atherosclerotic plaques by near-infrared spectroscopy. Circulation 105 8 (2002) 923-927
64. Romer T.J., Brennan J.F.I., Puppels G.J., Zwinderman A.H., van Duinen S.G., van der L.A., et al. Intravascular ultrasound combined with Raman spectroscopy to localize and quantify cholesterol and calcium salts in atherosclerotic coronary arteries. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 20 2 (2000 Feb) 478-483
65. Bhatia V., Bhatia R., Dhindsa S., and Dhindsa M. Imaging of the vulnerable plaque: new modalities. South Med J 96 11 (2003 Nov) 1142-1147
66. van de Poll S.W., Romer T.J., Puppels G.J., and van der L.A. Raman spectroscopy of atherosclerosis. J Cardiovasc Risk 9 5 (2002 Oct) 255-261
67. O'Leary D.H., Polak J.F., Kronmal R.A., Manolio T.A., Burke G.L., and Wolfson S.K. Carotid-artery intima and media thickness as a risk factor for myocardial infarction and stroke in older adults. N Engl J Med 340 1 (1999) 14-22
68. Hollander M., Hak A.E., Koudstaal P.J., Bots M.L., Grobbee D.E., Hofman A., et al. Comparison between measures of atherosclerosis and risk of stroke - The Rotterdam Study. Stroke 34 10 (2003) 2367-2372
69. Hoeks A.P.G., Brands P.J., Smeets F.A.M., and Reneman R.S. Assessment of the distensibility of superficial arteries. Ultrasound Med Biol 16 2 (1990) 121-128
70. Hiltawsky K.M., Wiegratz A., Enderle M.D., and Ermert H. Real-time detection of vessel diameters with ultrasound. Biomed Technik 48 5 (2003) 141-146
71. Nederkoorn P.J., van der Graaf Y., and Hunink M. Duplex ultrasound and magnetic resonance angiography compared with digital subtraction angiography in carotid artery stenosis - a systematic review. Stroke 34 5 (2003) 1324-1331
72. James G., and Raggi P. Electron beam tomography as a non-invasive method to monitor effectiveness of antiatherosclerotic therapy. Curr Drug Targets Cardiovasc Haematol Disord 4 2 (2004) 177-181
73. Shaw L.J., Raggi P., Schisterman E., Berman D.S., and Callister T.Q. Prognostic value of cardiac risk factors and coronary artery calcium screening for all-cause mortality. Radiology 228 3 (2003) 826-833
74. Escolar E., Weigold G., Fuisz A., and Weissman N.J. New imaging techniques for diagnosing coronary artery disease. Can Med Assoc J 174 4 (2006) 487-495
75. Cordeiro M.A.S., and Lima J.A.C. Atherosclerotic plaque characterization by multidetector row computed tomography angiography. J Am Coll Cardiol 47 8 (2006) C40-C47
76. Pohle K., Achenbach S., MacNeill B., Ropers D., Ferencik M., Moselewski F., et al. Characterization of non-calcified coronary atherosclerotic plaque by multi-detector row CT: comparison to IVUS. Atherosclerosis 190 1 (2007) 174-180
77. Saba L., Sanfilippo R., Pirisi R., Pascalis L., Montisci R., and Mallarini G. Multidetector-row CT angiography in the study of atherosclerotic carotid arteries. Neuroradiology 49 8 (2007) 623-637
78. Romano M., Mainenti P.P., Imbriaco M., Amato B., Markabaoui K., Tamburrini O., et al. Multidetector row CT angiography of the abdominal aorta and lower extremities in patients with peripheral arterial occlusive disease: diagnostic accuracy and interobserver agreement. Eur J Radiol 50 3 (2004) 303-308
79. Fuster V., Fayad Z.A., Moreno P.R., Poon M., Corti R., and Badimon J.J. Atherothrombosis and high-risk plaque - Part II: approaches by non-invasive computed tomographic/magnetic resonance imaging. J Am Coll Cardiol 46 7 (2005) 1209-1218
80. Hatsukami T.S., Ross R., Polissar N.L., and Yuan C. Visualization of fibrous cap thickness and rupture in human atherosclerotic carotid plaque in vivo with high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging. Circulation 102 9 (2000) 959-964
81. Fayad Z.A., Nahar T., Fallon J.T., Goldman M., Aguinaldo J.G., Badimon J.J., et al. In vivo magnetic resonance evaluation of atherosclerotic plaques in the human thoracic aorta - a comparison with transesophageal echocardiography. Circulation 101 21 (2000) 2503-2509
82. Sipkins D.A., Gijbels K., Tropper F.D., Bednarski M., Li K.C.P., and Steinman L. ICAM-1 expression in autoimmune encephalitis visualized using magnetic resonance imaging. J Neuroimmunol 104 1 (2000) 1-9
83. Fayad Z.A., Fallon J.T., Shinnar M., Wehrli S., Dansky H.M., Poon M., et al. Non-invasive in vivo high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging of atherosclerotic lesions in genetically engineered mice. Circulation 98 15 (1998) 1541-1547
84. Fayad Z.A., Hardy C.J., Giaquinto R., Kini A.S., and Fuster V. Improved high resolution MRI of human coronary lumen and plaque with a new cardiac coil. Circulation 102 18 (2000) 399
85. Klein I.F., Lavallee P.C., Touboul P.J., Schouman-Claeys E., and Amarenco P. In vivo middle cerebral artery plaque imaging by high-resolution MRI. Neurology 67 2 (2006) 327-329
86. Choudhury R.P., Fuster V., Badimon J.J., Fisher E.A., and Fayad Z.A. MRI and characterization of atherosclerotic plaque - emerging applications and molecular imaging. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 22 7 (2002) 1065-1074
87. Kooi M.E., Cappendijk V.C., Cleutjens K.B.J.M., Kessels A.G.H., Kitslaar P.J.E.H., Borgers M., et al. Accumulation of ultrasmall superparamagnetic particles of iron oxide in human atherosclerotic plaques can be detected by in vivo magnetic resonance imaging. Circulation 107 19 (2003) 2453-2458
88. Trivedi R.A., Mallawarachi C., King-Im J.M., Graves M.J., Horsley J., Goddard M.J., et al. Identifying inflamed carotid plaques using in vivo USPIO-enhanced MR imaging to label plaque macrophages. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 26 7 (2006) 1601-1606
89. Saam T., Ferguson M.S., Yarnykh V.L., Takaya N., Xu D., Polissar N.L., et al. Quantitative evaluation of carotid plaque composition by in vivo MRI. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 25 1 (2005) 234-239
90. Herborn C.U., Vogt F.M., Lauenstein T.C., Dirsch O., Corot C., Robert P., et al. Magnetic resonance imaging of experimental atherosclerotic plaque: comparison of two ultrasmall superparamagnetic particles of iron oxide. J Magn Reson Imag 24 2 (2006) 388-393
91. Lipinski M.J., Frias J.C., and Fayad Z.A. Advances in detection and characterization of atherosclerosis using contrast agents targeting the macrophage. J Nucl Cardiol 13 5 (2006) 699-709
92. Davies J.R., Rudd J.H.F., Weissberg P.L., and Narula J. Radionuclide imaging for the detection of inflammation in vulnerable plaques. J Am Coll Cardiol 47 8 (2006) C57-C68
93. Phelps M.E., Hoffman E.J., Selin C., Huang S.C., Robinson G., Macdonald N., et al. Investigation of [F-18] 2-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose for measure of myocardial glucose-metabolism. J Nucl Med 19 12 (1978) 1311-1319
94. Rudd J.H.F., Warburton E.A., Fryer T.D., Jones H.A., Clark J.C., Antoun N., et al. Imaging atherosclerotic plaque inflammation with [F-18]-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography. Circulation 105 23 (2002) 2708-2711
95. Ogawa M., Ishino S., Mukai T., Asano D., Teramoto N., Watabe H., et al. F-18-FDG accumulation in atherosclerotic plaques: immunohistochemical and PET imaging study. J Nucl Med 45 7 (2004) 1245-1250
96. Tsimikas S., Palinski W., Halpern S.E., Yeung D.W., Curtiss L.K., and Witztum J.L. Radiolabeled MDA2, an oxidation-specific, monoclonal antibody, identifies native atherosclerotic lesions in vivo. J Nucl Cardiol 6 1 (1999) 41-53
97. Tatsumi M., Cohade C., Nakamoto Y., and Wahl R.L. Fluorodeoxyglucose uptake in the aortic wall at PET/CT: possible finding for active atherosclerosis. Radiology 229 3 (2003) 831-837