Optical Coherence Tomography Analysis of Attenuated Plaques Detected by Intravascular Ultrasound in Patients with Acute Coronary Syndromes

Background. Recent intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) studies have demonstrated that hypoechoic plaque with deep ultrasound attenuation despite absence of bright calcium is common in acute coronary syndrome. Such “attenuated plaque” may be an IVUS characteristic of unstable lesion. Methods. We used op...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Takashi Kubo, Yoshiki Matsuo, Yasushi Ino, Takashi Tanimoto, Kohei Ishibashi, Kenichi Komukai, Hironori Kitabata, Atsushi Tanaka, Keizo Kimura, Toshio Imanishi, Takashi Akasaka
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2011-01-01
Series:Cardiology Research and Practice
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.4061/2011/687515
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Background. Recent intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) studies have demonstrated that hypoechoic plaque with deep ultrasound attenuation despite absence of bright calcium is common in acute coronary syndrome. Such “attenuated plaque” may be an IVUS characteristic of unstable lesion. Methods. We used optical coherence tomography (OCT) in 104 patients with unstable angina to compare lesion characteristics between IVUS-detected attenuated plaque and nonattenuated plaque. Results. IVUS-detected attenuated plaque was observed in 41 (39%) patients. OCT-detected lipidic plaque (88% versus 49%, 𝑃<0.001), thin-cap fibroatheroma (48% versus 16%, 𝑃<0.001), plaque rupture (44% versus 11%, 𝑃<0.001), and intracoronary thrombus (54% versus 17%, 𝑃<0.001) were more often seen in IVUS-detected attenuated plaques compared with nonattenuated plaques. Conclusions. IVUS-detected attenuated plaque has many characteristics of unstable coronary lesion. The presence of attended plaque might be an important marker of lesion instability.
ISSN:2090-0597