This Article Abstract Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Yamagishi, M. Articles by Miyatake, K. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Yamagishi, M. Articles by Miyatake, K.

Morphology of vulnerable coronary plaque: insights from follow-up of patients examined by intravascular ultrasound before an acute coronary syndrome

Masakazu Yamagishi, MD, FACC^a, Mitsuyasu Terashima, MD^*, Kojiro Awano, MD^*, Mikihiro Kijima, MD, Satoshi Nakatani, MD, FACC^a, Satoshi Daikoku, MD^a, Kenichi Ito, MD^a, Yoshio Yasumura, MD^a and Kunio Miyatake, MD, FACC^a

^a Cardiology Division of Medicine, National Cardiovascular Center, Suita, Japan
^* Division of Cardiology, Miki City Hospital, Miki, Japan
Division of Cardiology, Hoshi General Hospital, Koriyama, Japan

View larger version (86K): [in a new window]   Figure 1 Representative intravascular ultrasound image of vulnerable atherosclerotic plaque. (Left) The right coronary angiography showed multiple luminal irregularities. (Right) (A) At the distal portion, there existed mild concentric lesion. (B) In the proximal portion there was a significant eccentric lesion in which the echolucent area with percent plaque area of 67% was seen (arrow). (C) At the very proximal of this artery, there was also eccentric lesion with relatively high echo density. All three lesions were examined at follow-up.

View larger version (93K): [in a new window]   Figure 2 Coronary angiography before and after emergent angioplasty. Three months after registration, the patient had acute inferior myocardial infarction. Under these conditions (A) the coronary artery was totally occluded at the portion where the eccentric plaque with echolucent area had been seen by ultrasound. (B) Emergent balloon angioplasty that was done at the site of total occlusion resulted in complete recanalization of this artery.