title: Imaging Modalities to Identity Inflammation in an Atherosclerotic Plaque.
abstract: Atherosclerosis is a chronic, progressive, multifocal arterial wall disease caused by local and systemic inflammation responsible for major cardiovascular complications such as myocardial infarction and stroke. With the recent understanding that vulnerable plaque erosion and rupture, with subsequent thrombosis, rather than luminal stenosis, is the underlying cause of acute ischemic events, there has been a shift of focus to understand the mechanisms that make an atherosclerotic plaque unstable or vulnerable to rupture. The presence of inflammation in the atherosclerotic plaque has been considered as one of the initial events which convert a stable plaque into an unstable and vulnerable plaque. This paper systemically reviews the noninvasive and invasive imaging modalities that are currently available to detect this inflammatory process, at least in the intermediate stages, and discusses the ongoing studies that will help us to better understand and identify it at the molecular level.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY 11219, USA.
authors.forename: Sunny
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Goel
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY 11219, USA.
authors.forename: Avraham
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY 11219, USA.
authors.forename: Chirag
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Agarwal
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA.
authors.forename: Elina
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zakin
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY 11219, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Acholonu
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA.
authors.forename: Umesh
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Gidwani
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, State University of New York Downstate Medical Centre, Brooklyn, NY 11203, USA.
authors.forename: Abhishek
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY 11219, USA.
authors.forename: Guy
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kulbak
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY 11219, USA.
authors.forename: Jacob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shani
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY 11219, USA.
authors.forename: On
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Chen