ABSTRACT
Atherosclerosis is the main cause of death in Western society1. Myocardial infarction or stroke is, in the majority of cases, caused by rupture or erosion of an atherosclerotic plaque, in either the coronary or the carotid circulation. Often, people are unaware of their risk for cardiovascular events, because plaques prone to rupture do not necessarily limit the blood flow and thus do not cause any symptoms. These plaques, called vulnerable plaques, are characterized by their specific morphology and composition: a large lipid pool covered by a fibrous cap infiltrated by macrophages2 and expansive remodeling3,4. Among the current imaging techniques characterizing plaque constituents the application of intravascular optical coherence allows visualization of the fibrous cap thickness, its infiltration with macrophages and the determination of major plaque components5-7.
