title: Evaluation by multislice computed tomography of atherosclerotic coronary artery plaques in non-culprit, remote coronary arteries of patients with acute coronary syndrome.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) frequently have vulnerable plaques in the remote coronary arteries, suggesting that ACS is part of the pan-coronary process. In the present study the computed tomography (CT) plaque density in non-culprit atherosclerotic coronary artery lesions was evaluated by multislice computed tomography (MSCT) in patients with ACS and non-ACS.
  
  
  RESULTS
  MSCT was performed in 21 patients with ACS and 53 patients with non-ACS: 16 of the 21 ACS patients (76%) and 30 of the non-ACS 53 patients (57 %) had non-calcified plaques in the non-culprit coronary arteries (p=0.18). CT-low-density plaques (CT density <68 Hounsfield units (HU)) were more frequent in the ACS group (13/16 patients, 81%) than in the non-ACS group (13/30 patients, 43%, p=0.03). In addition, the CT density of the non-culprit lesion was significantly lower in patients with ACS than in those with non-ACS (44.1+/-22.9 and 77.3+/-33.7 HU, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients with ACS more frequently had CT-low-density plaques in the non-culprit, remote arteries than those with non-ACS, which suggests that ACS treatment should focus not only on stabilizing the culprit lesion but also on systemic stabilization of non-culprit lesions.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Toho University, Ohashi Medical Center, Japan.
authors.forename: Taeko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kunimasa
authors.forename: Yuichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Kaoru
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sugi
authors.forename: Masao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moroi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000789:Angina, Unstable / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D013577:Syndrome; D036542:Tomography, Spiral Computed / Q000379:methods