Progress in atherosclerotic plaque imaging

Table 2 Plaque feature identification through non-invasive diagnostic imaging (using ionizing radiation)

	MDCT	CE-CT	PET	SPECT
Morphology features
Outward Remodelling	[72]1	[79]2	-2	-2
Plaque Burden	-2	-2	-2	-2
Lipid pool	[77]1	-2	-2	-2
Necrotic core		-2	-2
Composition
Fibro-fatty	[77]1	[80]2	-1	-2
Fibrous plaque	[77]1	2	-2	-2
Dense calcium	[72]1	2	-2	-2
Biological features
Inflammation	-2	[81]2	[105]1	[103]2
Macrophage infiltration	-2	2		[99,100]2
Neo-angiogenesis	-2	-2	[99]1	-2

¹Limited clinical experience;

²research in progress. MDCT: Multidetector computed tomography; CE-CT: Contrast-enhanced computed tomography; PET: Positron emission tomography; SPECT: Single proton emission tomography.