title: Platelets in cardiovascular imaging.
abstract: Coronary artery disease remains a major hazard within the western world despite early revascularisation and advanced medical therapy strategies. One of its major substrates is platelet activation and thrombus formation, triggering acute events such as myocardial infarction and ischemic strokes. There are a variety of non-invasive imaging strategies being translated from bench to bedside into clinical practice that tackle specific aspects of the pathophysiology of thrombus formation. Some of those techniques are able to visualize native contrast differences between thrombus and surrounding tissue, others focus on the use of specific contrast agents targeting thrombotic components such as fibrin or activated platelets. Some of those techniques are still in the pre-clinical stage; others have already entered the clinical arena. The current review article will introduce different techniques and their stage of development on their way from bench to bedside with a specific focus on cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, that has evolved over the last years providing high quality information on anatomy, perfusion and myocardial tissue characteristics such as scarring in clinical practice. Finally, we will give an outlook on how this exciting field might evolve in the future.
authors.affiliation: Division of Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, King's College London, The Rayne Institute, St. Thomas' Hospital, 4th Floor Lambeth Wing, London SE1 7EH, UK. andreas_schuster@gmx.net
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schuster
authors.forename: Marcus R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Makowski
authors.forename: Christian H P
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Jansen
authors.forename: Meinrad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gawaz
authors.forename: Rene M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Botnar
authors.forename: Eike
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nagel
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bigalke
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001792:Blood Platelets / Q000378:metabolism*; D057791:Cardiac Imaging Techniques / Q000379:methods; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D003287:Contrast Media; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D003935:Diagnostic Techniques, Cardiovascular; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D015539:Platelet Activation; D013927:Thrombosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media