The American Journal of Medicine
Volume 122, Issue 1, Supplement , Pages S15-S25 , January 2009

Diagnosis of Atherosclerosis by Imaging

  • Borja Ibañez, MD
  • ,
  • Juan J. Badimon, PhD
  • ,
  • Mario J. Garcia, MD

      Affiliations

    • Corresponding Author InformationRequests for reprints should be addressed to Mario J. Garcia, MD, Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, One Gustave Levy Place, New York, New York 10029

References 

  1. Helft G, Worthley SG, Fuster V, et al. Progression and regression of atherosclerotic lesions: monitoring with serial noninvasive magnetic resonance imaging. Circulation. 2002;105:993–998
  2. Ibanez B, Navarro F, Cordoba M, Marcos-Alberca P, Farre J. Tako-tsubo transient left ventricular apical ballooning: is intravascular ultrasound the key to resolve the enigma?. Heart. 2005;91:102–104
  3. Tardif JC, Gregoire J, L'Allier PL, et al. Effects of reconstituted high-density lipoprotein infusions on coronary atherosclerosis: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA. 2007;297:1675–1682
  4. Nissen SE, Nicholls SJ, Sipahi I, et al. Effect of very high-intensity statin therapy on regression of coronary atherosclerosis: the ASTEROID trial. JAMA. 2006;295:1556–1565
  5. Nair A, Kuban BD, Tuzcu EM, Schoenhagen P, Nissen SE, Vince DG. Coronary plaque classification with intravascular ultrasound radiofrequency data analysis. Circulation. 2002;106:2200–2206
  6. Moore MP, Spencer T, Salter DM, et al. Characterization of coronary atherosclerotic morphology by spectral analysis of radiofrequency signal: in vitro intravascular ultrasound study with histological and radiological validation. Heart. 1998;79:459–467
  7. Nasu K, Tsuchikane E, Katoh O, et al. Accuracy of in vivo coronary plaque morphology assessment: a validation study of in vivo virtual histology compared with in vitro histopathology. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2006;47:2405–2412
  8. Stamper D, Weissman NJ, Brezinski M. Plaque characterization with optical coherence tomography. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2006;47(suppl):C69–C79
  9. Akosah KO, McHugh VL, Barnhart SI, Mathiason MA, Schaper AM, Perlock PA. Pilot results of the Early Detection by Ultrasound of Carotid Artery Intima-Media Thickness Evaluation (EVALUATE) study. Am J Hypertens. 2007;20:1183–1188
  10. Akosah KO, McHugh VL, Barnhart SI, Schaper AM, Mathiason MA, Perlock PA, et al. Carotid ultrasound for risk clarification in young to middle-aged adults undergoing elective coronary angiography. Am J Hypertens. 2006;19:1256–1261
  11. Achenbach S, Moselewski F, Ropers D, et al. Detection of calcified and noncalcified coronary atherosclerotic plaque by contrast-enhanced, submillimeter multidetector spiral computed tomography: a segment-based comparison with intravascular ultrasound. Circulation. 2004;109:14–17
  12. Achenbach S, Ropers D, Regenfus M, Pohle K, Giesler T, Moshage W, et al. Noninvasive coronary angiography by magnetic resonance imaging, electron-beam computed tomography, and multislice computed tomography. Am J Cardiol. 2001;88:70E–73E
  13. Ibanez B, Prat-González S, Speidl WS, et al. Early metoprolol administration before coronary reperfusion results in increased myocardial salvage: analysis of ischemic myocardium at risk using cardiac magnetic resonance. Circulation. 2007;115:2909–2916
  14. Rudd JH, Warburton EA, Fryer TD, et al. Imaging atherosclerotic plaque inflammation with [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography. Circulation. 2002;105:2708–2711
  15. Rudd JH, Myers KS, Bansilal S, et al. (18) Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography imaging of atherosclerotic plaque inflammation is highly reproducible: implications for atherosclerosis therapy trials. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2007;50:892–896
  16. de Groot E, Hovingh GK, Wiegman A, Duriez P, Smit AJ, Fruchart JC, et al. Measurement of arterial wall thickness as a surrogate marker for atherosclerosis. Circulation. 2004;109(suppl 1):III33–III38
  17. Baldassarre D, Amato M, Bondioli A, Sirtori CR, Tremoli E. Carotid artery intima-media thickness measured by ultrasonography in normal clinical practice correlates well with atherosclerosis risk factors. Stroke. 2000;31:2426–2430
  18. Nissen SE, Yock P. Intravascular ultrasound: novel pathophysiological insights and current clinical applications. Circulation. 2001;103:604–616
  19. Pignoli P, Tremoli E, Poli A, Oreste P, Paoletti R. Intimal plus medial thickness of the arterial wall: a direct measurement with ultrasound imaging. Circulation. 1986;74:1399–1406
  20. Persson J, Formgren J, Israelsson B, Berglund G. Ultrasound-determined intima-media thickness and atherosclerosis: direct and indirect validation. Arterioscler Thromb. 1994;14:261–264
  21. Tang R, Hennig M, Thomasson B, et al. Baseline reproducibility of B-mode ultrasonic measurement of carotid artery intima-media thickness: the European Lacidipine Study on Atherosclerosis (ELSA). J Hypertens. 2000;18:197–201
  22. Stein JH, Korcarz CE, Hurst RT, et al. Society for Vascular Medicine Use of carotid ultrasound to identify subclinical vascular disease and evaluate cardiovascular disease risk: a consensus statement from the American Society of Echocardiography Carotid Intima-Media Thickness Task Force. J Am Soc Echocardiogr [serial online]. 2008;21:93–111Available at: http://www.asecho.org/Guidelines.php. Accessed March 12, 2008
  23. Bots ML, Witteman JC, Grobbee DE. Carotid intima-media wall thickness in elderly women with and without atherosclerosis of the abdominal aorta. Atherosclerosis. 1993;102:99–105
  24. Bots ML, Hofman A, Grobbee DE. Common carotid intima-media thickness and lower extremity arterial atherosclerosis: the Rotterdam Study. Arterioscler Thromb. 1994;14:1885–1891
  25. Vaudo G, Schillaci G, Evangelista F, Pasqualini L, Verdecchia P, Mannarino E. Arterial wall thickening at different sites and its association with left ventricular hypertrophy in newly diagnosed essential hypertension. Am J Hypertens. 2000;13(pt 1):324–331
  26. Belhassen L, Carville C, Pelle G, et al. Evaluation of carotid artery and aortic intima-media thickness measurements for exclusion of significant coronary atherosclerosis in patients scheduled for heart valve surgery. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2002;39:1139–1144
  27. Burke GL, Evans GW, Riley WA, et al. Arterial wall thickness is associated with prevalent cardiovascular disease in middle-aged adults: the Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities (ARIC) study. Stroke. 1995;26:386–391
  28. Crouse JR, Craven TE, Hagaman AP, Bond MG. Association of coronary disease with segment-specific intimal-medial thickening of the extracranial carotid artery. Circulation. 1995;92:1141–1147
  29. O'Leary DH, Polak JF, Kronmal RA, Manolio TA, Burke GL, Wolfson SK Cardiovascular Health Study Collaborative Research Group. Carotid-artery intima and media thickness as a risk factor for myocardial infarction and stroke in older adults. N Engl J Med. 1999;340:14–22
  30. Taylor AJ, Kent SM, Flaherty PJ, Coyle LC, Markwood TT, Vernalis MN. ARBITER: Arterial Biology for the Investigation of the Treatment Effects of Reducing Cholesterol (A randomized trial comparing the effects of atorvastatin and pravastatin on carotid intima medial thickness). Circulation. 2002;106:2055–2060
  31. Kang S, Wu Y, Li X. Effects of statin therapy on the progression of carotid atherosclerosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Atherosclerosis. 2004;177:433–442
  32. Espeland MA, O'Leary DH, Terry JG, Morgan T, Evans G, Mudra H. Carotid intimal-media thickness as a surrogate for cardiovascular disease events in trials of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors. Curr Control Trials Cardiovasc Med. 2005;6:3
  33. Crouse JR, Raichlen JS, Riley WA, et al. METEOR Study Group Effect of rosuvastatin on progression of carotid intima-media thickness in low-risk individuals with subclinical atherosclerosis: the METEOR trial. JAMA. 2007;297:1344–1353
  34. Yuan C, Mitsumori LM, Ferguson MS, et al. In vivo accuracy of multispectral magnetic resonance imaging for identifying lipid-rich necrotic cores and intraplaque hemorrhage in advanced human carotid plaques. Circulation. 2001;104:2051–2056
  35. Yuan C, Zhang SX, Polissar NL, et al. Identification of fibrous cap rupture with magnetic resonance imaging is highly associated with recent transient ischemic attack or stroke. Circulation. 2002;105:181–185
  36. Fayad ZA, Fuster V, Nikolaou K, Becker C. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging for noninvasive coronary angiography and plaque imaging: current and potential future concepts. Circulation. 2002;106:2026–2034
  37. Ibanez B, Pinero A, Orejas M, Badimon J. Novel imaging techniques for quantifying overall atherosclerotic burden [in Spanish]. Rev Esp Cardiol. 2007;60:299–309
  38. Fayad ZA, Nahar T, Fallon JT, et al. In vivo magnetic resonance evaluation of atherosclerotic plaques in the human thoracic aorta: a comparison with transesophageal echocardiography. Circulation. 2000;101:2503–2509
  39. Corti R, Fuster V, Fayad ZA, et al. Lipid lowering by simvastatin induces regression of human atherosclerotic lesions: two years' follow-up by high-resolution noninvasive magnetic resonance imaging. Circulation. 2002;106:2884–2887
  40. Ibanez B, Vilahur G, Badimon J. Plaque progression and regression in atherothrombosis. J Thromb Haemost. 2007;5(suppl 1):292–299
  41. Ibanez B, Vilahur G, Pinero A, et al. Rapid change in plaque size, composition and molecular footprint following recombinant ApoA-IMilano (ETC-216) administration: magnetic resonance imaging study in an experimental model of atherosclerosis. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2008;51:1104–1109
  42. Corti R, Fayad ZA, Fuster V, et al. Effects of lipid lowering by simvastatin on human atherosclerotic lesions: a longitudinal study by high-resolution, noninvasive magnetic resonance imaging. Circulation. 2002;104:249–252
  43. Insull W. The pathology of atherosclerosis: plaque development and plaque responses to medical treatment. Am J Med. 2008;xx–xxx[this issue]
  44. Greenland P, LaBree L, Azen SP, Doherty TM, Detrano RC. Coronary artery calcium score combined with Framingham score for risk prediction in asymptomatic individuals. JAMA. 2004;291:210–215
  45. Kopp AF, Ohnesorge B, Becker C, et al. Reproducibility and accuracy of coronary calcium measurements with multi-detector row versus electron-beam CT. Radiology. 2002;225:113–119
  46. Schmermund A, Erbel R, Silber S. Age and gender distribution of coronary artery calcium measured by four-slice computed tomography in 2,030 persons with no symptoms of coronary artery disease. Am J Cardiol. 2002;90:168–173
  47. Keelan PC, Bielak LF, Ashai K, et al. Long-term prognostic value of coronary calcification detected by electron-beam computed tomography in patients undergoing coronary angiography. Circulation. 2001;104:412–417
  48. Greenland P, Abrams J, Aurigemma GP, et al. Prevention Conference V: Beyond secondary prevention: identifying the high-risk patient for primary prevention: noninvasive tests of atherosclerotic burden: Writing Group III. Circulation. 2000;101:E16–E22
  49. Expert Panel on the Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults. Third Report of the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults (Adult Treatment Panel III): final report. Circulation [serial online]. 2002;106:3143–3421Available at: www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/cholesterol. Accessed March 30, 2008
  50. Hecht HS, Budoff MJ, Berman DS, Ehrlich J, Rumberger JA. Coronary artery calcium scanning: clinical paradigms for cardiac risk assessment and treatment. Am Heart J. 2006;151:1139–1146
  51. Greenland P, Gaziano JM. Clinical practice: selecting asymptomatic patients for coronary computed tomography or electrocardiographic exercise testing. N Engl J Med. 2003;349:465–473
  52. O'Malley PG, Greenberg BA, Taylor AJ. Cost-effectiveness of using electron beam computed tomography to identify patients at risk for clinical coronary artery disease. Am Heart J. 2004;148:106–113
  53. Vince DG, Dixon KJ, Cothren RM, Cornhill JF. Comparison of texture analysis methods for the characterization of coronary plaques in intravascular ultrasound images. Comput Med Imaging Graph. 2000;24:221–229
  54. Taylor AJ, Bindeman J, Feuerstein I, Cao F, Brazaitis M, O'Malley PG. Coronary calcium independently predicts incident premature coronary heart disease over measured cardiovascular risk factors: mean three-year outcomes in the Prospective Army Coronary Calcium (PACC) project. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2005;46:807–814
  55. Raggi P, Davidson M, Callister TQ, Welty FK, Bachmann GA, Hecht H, et al. Aggressive versus moderate lipid-lowering therapy in hypercholesterolemic postmenopausal women: Beyond Endorsed Lipid Lowering with EBT Scanning (BELLES). Circulation. 2005;112:563–571
  56. Hausleiter J, Meyer T, Hadamitzky M, Kastrati A, Martinoff S, Schömig A. Prevalence of noncalcified coronary plaques by 64-slice computed tomography in patients with an intermediate risk for significant coronary artery disease. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2006;18:312–318
  57. Pundziute G, Schuijf JD, Jukema JW, et al. Noninvasive assessment of plaque characteristics with multislice computed tomography coronary angiography in symptomatic diabetic patients. Diabetes Care. 2007;30:1113–1119
  58. Burgstahler C, Reimann A, Beck T, et al. Influence of a lipid-lowering therapy on calcified and noncalcified coronary plaques monitored by multislice detector computed tomography: results of the New Age II Pilot Study. Invest Radiol. 2007;42:189–195
  59. Kostamaa H, Donovan J, Kasaoka S, Tobis J, Fitzpatrick L. Calcified plaque cross-sectional area in human arteries: correlation between intravascular ultrasound and undecalcified histology. Am Heart J. 1999;137:482–488
  60. Kopp AF, Schroeder S, Baumbach A, et al. Non-invasive characterisation of coronary lesion morphology and composition by multislice CT: first results in comparison with intracoronary ultrasound. Eur Radiol. 2001;11:1607–1611
  61. Schoenhagen P, Tuzcu EM, Stillman AE, et al. Non-invasive assessment of plaque morphology and remodeling in mildly stenotic coronary segments: comparison of 16-slice computed tomography and intravascular ultrasound. Coron Artery Dis. 2003;14:459–462
  62. Carrascosa PM, Capunay CM, Garcia-Merletti P, Carrascosa J, Garcia MF. Characterization of coronary atherosclerotic plaques by multidetector computed tomography. Am J Cardiol. 2006;97:598–602
  63. Hyafil F, Cornily JC, Feig JE, et al. Noninvasive detection of macrophages using a nanoparticulate contrast agent for computed tomography. Nat Med. 2007;13:636–641
  64. Tahara N, Kai H, Ishibashi M, et al. Simvastatin attenuates plaque inflammation: evaluation by fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2006;48:1825–1831
  65. Iiyama K, Hajra L, Iiyama M, Li H, DiChiara M, Medoff BD, et al. Patterns of vascular cell adhesion molecule–1 and intercellular adhesion molecule–1 expression in rabbit and mouse atherosclerotic lesions and at sites predisposed to lesion formation. Circ Res. 1999;85:199–207
  66. Kooi ME, Cappendijk VC, Cleutjens KB, et al. Accumulation of ultrasmall superparamagnetic particles of iron oxide in human atherosclerotic plaques can be detected by in vivo magnetic resonance imaging. Circulation. 2003;107:2453–2458
  67. Lindner JR, Coggins MP, Kaul S, Klibanov AL, Brandenburger GH, Ley K. Microbubble persistence in the microcirculation during ischemia/reperfusion and inflammation is caused by integrin- and complement-mediated adherence to activated leukocytes. Circulation. 2000;101:668–675
  68. Kaufmann BA, Sanders JM, Davis C, Xie A, Aldred P, Sarembock IJ, et al. Molecular imaging of inflammation in atherosclerosis with targeted ultrasound detection of vascular cell adhesion molecule–1. Circulation. 2007;116:276–284
  69. Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Available at: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/resources/deca/descriptions/mesa.htm. Accessed November 18, 2008.
  70. High-Risk Plaque (HRP) BioImage Study. Available at: www.hrpinitiative.com/hrpinit. Accessed November 18, 2008.

 Statement of author disclosure: Please see the Author Disclosures section at the end of this article.

 To access a slide kit for this article, please click here.

PII: S0002-9343(08)01018-8

doi: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2008.10.014

The American Journal of Medicine
Volume 122, Issue 1, Supplement , Pages S15-S25 , January 2009