Imaging of the vulnerable carotid plaque

Objectives

Atherothrombosis in the carotid arteries is a main cause of ischemic stroke and may depend on plaque propensity to complicate with rupture or erosion, in turn related to vulnerability features amenable to in vivo imaging. This would provide an opportunity for risk stratification and—potentially—local treatment of more vulnerable plaques. We here review current information on this topic.

Methods

We systematically...