title: Non-invasive assessment of vulnerable plaque.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Sudden cardiac death or unheralded acute coronary syndromes are common initial manifestations of coronary atherosclerosis and most such events occur at sites of non-flow limiting coronary atherosclerosis.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Non-invasive detection of high-risk plaques might provide a means to improve risk stratification in primary and secondary prevention settings.
  
  
  METHODS
  This review is focused on the potential of multidetector computed tomography coronary angiography (MDCT-CA) to provide the opportunity to identify different aspects of plaque vulnerability throughout the coronary tree in an accurate, fast, safe and non-invasive manner.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Coronary artery calcium scoring, on top of established risk stratification, could potentially be a cost-effective strategy for primary prevention. MDCT-CA allows a non-invasive evaluation of several features commonly seen in vulnerable plaques and has demonstrated an independent prognostic value on a patient basis. The value of the technique itself might result, potentially, in a better estimation of the relative risk of an invidual plaque to rupture.
authors.affiliation: Otamendi Hospital, Clínica La Sagrada Familia, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Department of Cardiovascular Imaging, Azcuenaga 870, Buenos Aires, Argentina +54 11 49648740 ; +54 11 49648740 ; grodriguezgranillo@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Gastón A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Rodriguez Granillo