OBJECTIVES We sought to determine the influence of plaque morphology and warfarin anticoagulation on the risk of recurrent emboli in patients with mobile aortic atheroma. BACKGROUND An epidemiologic link between aortic atheroma and systemic emboli has been described both in pathologic and transesophageal studies. Likewise, a few studies have found an increased incidence of recurrent emboli in...

Vulnerable plaque generally contains a thin fibrous cap, lipid pools, and reduced internal plaque collagen. Arterial fluorescence analysis can differentiate atherosclerotic lesions from normal arteries; however, the contribution of the lipid core to atherosclerotic arterial fluorescence remains controversial. This study aimed to identify lipid core fluorophores and to differentiate the lipid co...

OBJECTIVE Vascular tissues express 2 types of estrogen receptors (ERs): ERalpha and ERbeta. Their role in early atherosclerosis remains poorly understood, particularly in males. We developed and characterized an atherosclerosis model in ERalpha knockout male mice to investigate directly its role in atheroma. METHODS AND RESULTS Cholesterol-fed ERalpha knockout and wild-type mice developed ear...

Zymogens are delivered to the arterial wall by radial transmural convection. Plasminogen can be activated within the arterial wall to produce plasmin, which is involved in evolution of the atherosclerotic plaque. Vascular smooth muscle cells (vSMCs) protect the vessels from proteolytic injury due to atherosclerosis development by highly expressing endocytic LDL receptor-related protein-1 (LRP-1...

BACKGROUND Loss of interstitial collagen, particularly type I collagen, the major load-bearing molecule of atherosclerotic plaques, renders atheroma prone to rupture. Initiation of collagen breakdown requires interstitial collagenases, a matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) subfamily consisting of MMP-1, MMP-8, and MMP-13. Previous work demonstrated the overexpression of MMP-1 and MMP-13 in human ath...

statement of the problem: cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis are major health dilemmas. osteoporotic patients frequently display vascular calcification that consequently increases the cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. purpose : this study aimed to investigate the relation of osteoporosis, vascular calcification (atheroma, intima-media thickness (imt)) and elongated styloid process (e...

BACKGROUND Atherosclerotic disease in coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) patients is a potential contributor to complications in the perioperative periods. This study was undertaken to better define how the frequency of aortic atheromatous disease among patients coming for CABG has evolved over the last decade. METHODS Data from elective patients coming for CABG who underwent transesophag...