The site of plaque rupture in native coronary arteries: a three-vessel intravascular ultrasound analysis.
OBJECTIVE
We evaluated the axial location of plaque ruptures in native coronary arteries.


BACKGROUND
It is clinically important to understand the potential sites of plaque rupture.


METHODS
We performed three-vessel intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) examination in 392 patients; 231 had acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and 161 had stable angina pectoris (SAP). The IVUS detected plaque ruptures in 206 patients: 158 ACS patients and 48 SAP patients. The distance between each coronary plaque rupture segment and the respective coronary ostium was measured with motorized IVUS transducer pullback in all three coronary arteries.


RESULTS
There were a total of 273 plaque ruptures in these 206 patients; 143 in the left anterior descending artery (LAD), 40 in the left circumflex artery (LCX), and 90 in the right coronary artery (RCA). There were 67 plaque ruptures in SAP patients and 206 in ACS patients; there were 197 culprit/target lesion plaque ruptures and 76 non-culprit/non-target lesion plaque ruptures. The LAD plaque ruptures were predominantly located between 10 and 40 mm from the LAD ostium (83%, 119 of 143). The LCX plaque ruptures were evenly distributed in the entire LCX tree. Most RCA plaque ruptures were located in segments between 10 and 40 mm (48%, 43 of 90) and in segments >70 mm from the ostium (32%, 29 of 90).


CONCLUSIONS
Three-vessel IVUS imaging showed that plaque ruptures occurred mainly in proximal segments of the LAD (83% of LAD plaque rupture), the proximal and distal segments of the RCA (48% and 32% of RCA plaque ruptures, respectively), and the entire LCX.
Hong
Myeong-Ki
MK
Department of Medicine, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
Mintz
Gary S
GS
Lee
Cheol Whan
CW
Lee
Bong-Ki
BK
Yang
Tae-Hyun
TH
Kim
Young-Hak
YH
Song
Jong-Min
JM
Han
Ki-Hoon
KH
Kang
Duk-Hyun
DH
Cheong
Sang-Sig
SS
Song
Jae-Kwan
JK
Kim
Jae-Joong
JJ
Park
Seong-Wook
SW
Park
Seung-Jung
SJ
D000208:Acute Disease; D000787:Angina Pectoris / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012422:Rupture, Spontaneous; D013577:Syndrome; D018084:Ultrasonography, Interventional