title: Nuclear Molecular Imaging for Vulnerable Atherosclerotic Plaques.
abstract: Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease as well as a lipid disorder. Atherosclerotic plaque formed in vessel walls may cause ischemia, and the rupture of vulnerable plaque may result in fatal events, like myocardial infarction or stroke. Because morphological imaging has limitations in diagnosing vulnerable plaque, molecular imaging has been developed, in particular, the use of nuclear imaging probes. Molecular imaging targets various aspects of vulnerable plaque, such as inflammatory cell accumulation, endothelial activation, proteolysis, neoangiogenesis, hypoxia, apoptosis, and calcification. Many preclinical and clinical studies have been conducted with various imaging probes and some of them have exhibited promising results. Despite some limitations in imaging technology, molecular imaging is expected to be used both in the research and clinical fields as imaging instruments become more advanced.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul 03080, Korea. ; Department of Nuclear Medicine, National Cancer Center, Goyang 10408, Korea.
authors.forename: Soo Jin
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul 03080, Korea.
authors.forename: Jin Chul
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Paeng
mesh_terms: D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000473:pathology; D008077:Lipoproteins, LDL / Q000378:metabolism; D008264:Macrophages / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D058226:Plaque, Atherosclerotic; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D011859:Radiography; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
chemical_list: D008077:Lipoproteins, LDL
keywords: Molecular imaging; PET; SPECT; Vulnerable plaque