Progress in atherosclerotic plaque imaging

Table 1 Plaque feature identification through non-invasive diagnostic imaging (without using ionizing radiation)

	US	CE-US	MRI	CE-MRI
Morphology features
Outward remodelling	-1	-1	-1	-1
Plaque burden	-2	[39]1	-1	-1
Lipid pool	[32]1	-2	[50]1	[57]1
Necrotic core	[30]1	-2	[53]1
Composition
Fibro-fatty	-2	-2	[50]1	[57]1
Fibrous plaque	[32]1	-2	-1	-1
Dense calcium	[32]1	-2	[50]1	[58]1
Biological features
Inflammation	-2	[39]1	[57]1	[60]1
Macrophage infiltration			-2
Neo-angiogenesis	-2	[36]1	-2	[59]1
TFCA	-2	-2	[50]1	[142]1
TFCA + MI	-2	-2	-2	-2

¹Limited clinical experience;

²research in progress. US: Ultrasound; CE-US: Contrast-enhanced ultrasound; MRI: Magnetic resonance imaging; CE-MRI: Contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging; MI: Macrophage infiltration; TFCA: Thin fibrous cap atheroma.

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.

Table 3 Plaque feature identification through invasive diagnostic imaging

	IVUS	VH	US-E	OCT	IVMRI
Morphology features
Outward remodelling	-1	-1	[137]1	[116]1	-1
Plaque burden	[124]1	-1	[137]1	[116]1	-1
Lipid pool	[126]1	[130]1	-2	-1	-1
Necrotic core	[124]1	[131]1	-2	-1	-1
Composition
Fibro-fatty		[131]1	[141]1	[116]1	[146,147]1
Fibrous plaque		[131]1	[141]1	[116]1
Dense calcium	[128]1	[131]1	[138]1	[116]1
Biological features
Inflammation	-2	[57]1		[122]1	-2
Macrophage infiltration	-2	-2	[141]1	[119]1	-2
Neo-angiogenesis	-2	-2	-2	-2	-2
TFCA	-1	-1	-1	[116]1	-2
TFCA + MI	-2	-2	[137]1	-2	-2

¹Limited clinical experience;

²research in progress. IVUS: Intravascular ultrasound; VH: Virtual histology; OCT: Optical coherence tomography; US-E: Elastography; IVMRI: Intravascular magnetic resonance imaging; MI: Macrophage infiltration; TFCA: Thin fibrous cap atheroma.