IMR Press / RCM / Volume 5 / Issue S2 / pii/1561344987065-388479614

Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine (RCM) is published by IMR Press from Volume 19 Issue 1 (2018). Previous articles were published by another publisher in Open Access under a CC-BY (or CC-BY-NC-ND) licence, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with MedReviews, LLC.

Open Access Review
Identification and Treatment of Vulnerable Plaque
Show Less
1 Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford, CA
Rev. Cardiovasc. Med. 2004, 5(S2), 22–33;
Published: 20 February 2004
Abstract
It is now well recognized that the rupture of vulnerable plaque, which consists of an atheromatous plaque core covered by a thin fibrous cap with ongoing inflammation, is a major cause of thrombus formation leading to the development of acute coronary syndrome. Several diagnostic techniques, including vascular imaging and serologic markers, are clinically available or currently under investigation for the detection of vulnerable plaque. A combination of several diagnostic modalities might allow effective screening of individuals at high risk for future cardiovascular events. Plaque stabilization with pharmacologic interventions—statins, ß-blockers, and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors—might effectively prevent the development of acute coronary syndromes caused by plaque disruption.
Keywords
Acute coronary syndromes
Plaque
Intravascular ultrasound
Angioscopy
Optical coherence tomography
Thermography
Spectroscopy
Share
Back to top