Comparison of coronary plaque characteristics between diabetic and non-diabetic subjects: An in vivo optical coherence tomography study.
OBJECTIVE
Postmortem series have reported that subjects with diabetes mellitus have coronary plaques with larger necrotic cores and increased macrophage infiltration. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a high-resolution imaging modality that allows in vivo characterization of atherosclerotic plaques. Using OCT imaging, we compared in vivo plaque characteristics between diabetic and non-diabetic subjects.


METHODS
Sixty-three patients undergoing cardiac catheterization were enrolled. OCT imaging was performed in culprit coronary arteries. Assessment of plaque lipid content, fibrous cap thickness and frequency of thin-cap fibroatheroma were made independently. Macrophage density was determined from the optical signal within fibrous cap.


RESULTS
Eighty-two plaques in total were imaged (19 diabetic vs. 63 non-diabetic). There were no significant differences in frequency of lipid-rich plaques (68% vs. 71%; P=0.78), thin-cap fibroatheroma (29% vs. 36%; P=0.76) or minimum fibrous cap thickness (66.6microm vs. 62.9microm; P=0.87) between diabetic and non-diabetic patients. Fibrous cap macrophage density was higher in lipid-rich plaques (P=0.01) but showed no difference between diabetic and non-diabetic patients (5.94% vs. 5.94%; P=0.37).


CONCLUSIONS
There were no significant differences in culprit vessel plaque characteristics between diabetic and non-diabetic patients presenting with coronary artery disease. This represents the first study to characterize coronary plaques in diabetic patients using OCT.
Chia
Stanley
S
Cardiology Division, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 55 Fruit Street GRB 800, Boston, MA, United States.
Raffel
O Christopher
OC
Takano
Masamichi
M
Tearney
Guillermo J
GJ
Bouma
Brett E
BE
Jang
Ik-Kyung
IK
D000368:Aged; D002102:Cadaver; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D003925:Diabetic Angiopathies / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence