TY - JOUR

T1 - Positron emission tomography of the vulnerable atherosclerotic plaque in man – a contemporary review

AU - Pedersen, Sune F

AU - Hag, Anne Mette F

AU - Klausen, Thomas L

AU - Ripa, Rasmus Sejersten

AU - Bodholdt, Rasmus P

AU - Kjaer, Andreas

N1 - © 2013 The Authors. Clinical Physiology and Functional Imaging published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Scandinavian Society of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine.

PY - 2014/11

Y1 - 2014/11

N2 - Atherosclerosis is the primary underlying cause of cardiovascular disease (CVD). It is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the Western world today and is set to become the prevailing disease and major cause of death worldwide by 2020. In the 1950s surgical intervention was introduced to treat symptomatic patients with high-grade carotid artery stenosis due to atherosclerosis - a procedure known as carotid endarterectomy (CEA). By removing the atherosclerotic plaque from the affected carotid artery of these patients, CEA is beneficial by preventing subsequent ipsilateral ischemic stroke. However, it is known that patients with low to intermediate artery stenosis may still experience ischemic events, leading clinicians to consider plaque composition as an important feature of atherosclerosis. Today molecular imaging can be used for characterization, visualization and quantification of cellular and subcellular physiological processes as they take place in vivo; using this technology we can obtain valuable information on atherosclerostic plaque composition. Applying molecular imaging clinically to atherosclerotic disease therefore has the potential to identify atherosclerotic plaques vulnerable to rupture. This could prove to be an important tool for the selection of patients for CEA surgery in a health system increasingly focused on individualized treatment. This review focuses on current advances and future developments of in vivo atherosclerosis PET imaging in man.

AB - Atherosclerosis is the primary underlying cause of cardiovascular disease (CVD). It is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the Western world today and is set to become the prevailing disease and major cause of death worldwide by 2020. In the 1950s surgical intervention was introduced to treat symptomatic patients with high-grade carotid artery stenosis due to atherosclerosis - a procedure known as carotid endarterectomy (CEA). By removing the atherosclerotic plaque from the affected carotid artery of these patients, CEA is beneficial by preventing subsequent ipsilateral ischemic stroke. However, it is known that patients with low to intermediate artery stenosis may still experience ischemic events, leading clinicians to consider plaque composition as an important feature of atherosclerosis. Today molecular imaging can be used for characterization, visualization and quantification of cellular and subcellular physiological processes as they take place in vivo; using this technology we can obtain valuable information on atherosclerostic plaque composition. Applying molecular imaging clinically to atherosclerotic disease therefore has the potential to identify atherosclerotic plaques vulnerable to rupture. This could prove to be an important tool for the selection of patients for CEA surgery in a health system increasingly focused on individualized treatment. This review focuses on current advances and future developments of in vivo atherosclerosis PET imaging in man.

U2 - 10.1111/cpf.12105

DO - 10.1111/cpf.12105

M3 - Review

C2 - 24289282

VL - 34

SP - 413

EP - 425

JO - Clinical Physiology and Functional Imaging

JF - Clinical Physiology and Functional Imaging

SN - 1475-0961

IS - 6

ER -