Arterial thrombosis occurs at sites of erosion or rupture of atherosclerotic vascular lesions. To better study the pathophysiology of this complex phenomenon, there is a need for animal models of localised thrombosis at sites of atherosclerotic lesions with closer resemblance to the human pathology as compared to commonly used thrombosis models in healthy vessels. In the present study, we descr...

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVE Membrane-shed submicron microparticles (MPs) released following cell activation or apoptosis accumulate in atherosclerotic plaques, where they stimulate endothelial proliferation and neovessel formation. The aim of the study was to assess whether or not MPs isolated from human atherosclerotic plaques contribute to increased endothelial adhesion molecules expression and m...

-Retrospectively, plaque rupture is often colocalized with inflammation of the cap and shoulder of the atherosclerotic plaque. Local inflammation is therefore considered a potential marker for plaque vulnerability. However, high specificity of inflammation for plaque rupture is a requisite for application of inflammation markers to detect rupture-prone lesions. The objective of the present stud...

BACKGROUND Atherosclerosis is a complex disease requiring improvements in diagnostic techniques and therapeutic treatments. Both improvements will be facilitated by greater exploration of the biology of atherosclerotic plaque. To this end, we carried out large-scale gene expression analysis of human atherosclerotic lesions. METHODS AND RESULTS Whole genome expression analysis of 101 plaques f...

A high resolution, noninvasive approach to quantify atherosclerotic plaque in the peripheral vasculature could have significant clinical and research utility. Seventeen patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) were studied in a 1.5T CMR scanner. Atherosclerotic plaque volume in the superficial femoral artery was measured and interobserver, intraobserver, and test-retest variability deter...

AIMS This study aims to visualize ultrasonically deformation of atherosclerotic plaques in human coronary arteries during vasoconstriction and vasodilatation. METHODS AND RESULTS Intravascular ultrasound detected occult atherosclerosis in angiographically normal coronary arteries of eight patients with chest pain at rest. During the acetylcholine provocative test, intravascular ultrasound mon...

Cardiac computed tomographic angiography (CCTA) has emerged as a powerful imaging modality for the detection and prognostication of individuals with suspected coronary artery disease. Because calcification of coronary plaque occurs in proportion to the total atheroma volume, the initial diagnostic potential of CCTA focused on the identification and quantification of coronary calcium in low- to ...

Atherosclerotic plaque rupture and local thrombosis activation in the artery cause acute serious incidents such as acute coronary syndrome and stroke. The exact mechanism of plaque rupture remains unclear but excessive degradation of the extracellular matrix scaffold by matrix-degrading metalloproteinases (MMPs) has been implicated as one of the major molecular mechanisms in this process. Convi...

Acute coronary syndrome is a clinical condition of partial or total obstruction of blood flow in the coronary artery due to acute thrombus formation. Culprit vessel, coronary artery segment within which the site of origin of thrombus formation lies, is occupied by eroded or ruptured atherosclerotic plaque. Direct contact between circulating blood constituent and atherosclerotic plaque content o...