ABSTRACT
The first in vivo human thermographic studies were performed in 1999 by Stefanadis and colleagues,42 of Athens, who used a single-channel, thermistorbased catheter to demonstrate thermal heterogeneity in human atherosclerotic coronary arteries. Temperature differences (∆T) between atherosclerotic plaque and healthy vascular wall increased progressively, being lowest in patients with stable angina (∆T: 0.106±0.110 °C) and highest in those with unstable angina (∆T: 0.683±0.347 °C) and acute MI (∆T: 1.472±0.691 °C) (Figure 9.8). Intraplaque temperature heterogeneity was found in 20%, 40% and 67% of the patients with stable angina, unstable angina and acute MI, respectively, but no such temperature heterogeneity was found in the control subjects. Thermal heterogeneity was not correlated with the degree of stenosis.
