title: Noninvasive carotid artery imaging with a focus on the vulnerable plaque.
abstract: Currently carotid imaging has 2 main focuses: assessment of luminal stenosis and classification of atherosclerotic plaque characteristics. Measurement of the degree of stenosis is the main assessment used for current treatment decision making, but an evolving idea that is now driving imaging is the concept of vulnerable plaque, which is where plaque components are identified and used to define which plaques are at high risk of causing symptoms compared with those at low risk. This review article covers the methods used for noninvasive assessment of carotid luminal stenosis and the options available for plaque imaging.
authors.affiliation: University Department of Radiology, Addenbrookes Hospital, Box 218, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 0QQ, UK. vy207@cam.ac.uk
authors.forename: V E L
authors.initials: VE
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Sadat
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Gillard
mesh_terms: D016893:Carotid Stenosis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002533:Cerebral Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*