It is generally believed that the coronary plaques with lipid-laden thin fibrous cap and a large lipid core beneath are vulnerable and imaging methods such as intravascular ultrasonography1, optical coherence tomography2, and angioscopy3-5 are clinically employed to detect this type of plaques. However, the coronary plaques that have a thin cap composed of tight calcium layers are frequently ob...

In Alzheimer's disease, amyloid-beta peptide aggregates in the extracellular space to form senile plaques. The process of plaque deposition and growth has been modeled on the basis of in vitro experiments in ways that lead to divergent predictions: either a diffusion-limited growth model in which plaques grow by first-order kinetics, or a dynamic model of continual deposition and asymmetrical c...

BACKGROUND The fibrous cap of atherosclerotic plaques is composed predominantly of type I and III collagen. Unstable carotid plaques are characterized by rupture of their cap, leading to thromboembolism and stroke. The proteolytic mechanisms causing plaque disruption are undefined, but the collagenolytic matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) -1, -8, and -13 may be implicated. The aim of this study was...

BACKGROUND In vivo detection of vulnerable plaques is presently limited by a lack of diagnostic tools. Intravascular ultrasound elastography is a new technique based on intravascular ultrasound and has the potential to differentiate between different plaques phenotypes. However, the predictive value of intravascular elastography to detect vulnerable plaques had not been studied. METHODS AND R...

OBJECTIVE Echolucent carotid plaques are associated with acute cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events (ACCEs) in atherosclerotic patients. The aim of this study was to develop a computer-aided method for identifying echolucent plaques. METHODS A total of 315 ultrasound images of carotid plaques (105 echo-rich, 105 intermediate and 105 echolucent) collected from 153 patients were included i...

BACKGROUND Studies of aortic arch plaques with transesophageal echocardiography have demonstrated that complex aortic arch plaques (CAPs) greater than or equal to 4 mm in thickness are associated with ischemic stroke. Recent studies have demonstrated that the morphological features of plaques may aid in the identification of aortic plaques that are more likely to be associated with embolic stro...

OBJECTIVE Atherosclerotic plaques with large lipid cores and inflammation contain regions of hypoxia. We examined the uptake of 2-(2-nitro-1H-imidazol-1-yl)-N-(2,2,3,3,3-pentafluoropropyl) acetamide ([18F]EF5), a specific marker of hypoxia labeled for positron emission tomography, in mouse atherosclerotic plaques. METHODS AND RESULTS Atherosclerotic mice of 2 different genetic backgrounds (lo...

Objective—Atherosclerotic plaques with large lipid cores and inflammation contain regions of hypoxia. We examined the uptake of 2-(2-nitro-H-imidazol-1-yl)-N-(2,2,3,3,3-pentafluoropropyl) acetamide ([F]EF5), a specific marker of hypoxia labeled for positron emission tomography, in mouse atherosclerotic plaques. Methods and Results—Atherosclerotic mice of 2 different genetic backgrounds (low-den...