Click on image to view larger version.

Figure 2 Echogram (upper panel, left), elastogram (upper panel, right) and histologic sections with alfa actin stain (left bottom panel), and picro Sirius red stain without (bottom middle panel) and with polarized light (bottom right panel) of a human femoral artery. The echogram reveals an eccentric plaque between the 2 and 11 o’clock position. The elastogram shows that the plaque can be divided into two parts: a low strain part (0.2%) between the 4 and 11 o’clock position and a high strain part (1.0%) between the 2 and 4 o’clock position, both compared to the moderate strain (0.5%) in the normal vessel wall. Histologic study reveals that the region between the 4 and 11 o’clock position is fibrous material and the region between the 2 and 4 o’clock position lacks smooth muscle cells (white arrow, left bottom panel) and collagen (white arrow right bottom panel) (with courtesy of C de Korte and T van der Steen, Erasmus University, Rotterdam).