Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Aug;10(4):1032-1047.
doi: 10.21037/cdt.2020.03.01.

Plaque imaging volume analysis: technique and application

Alessandro Murgia  1 , Antonella Balestrieri  1 , Marco Francone  2 , Pierleone Lucatelli  2 , Elisa Scapin  1 , Andrew Buckler  3 , Giulio Micheletti  1 , Gavino Faa  4 , Maurizio Conti  5   6 , Jasjit S Suri  5   6 , Giuseppe Guglielmi  7 , Alessandro Carriero  8 , Luca Saba  1
Affiliations
Review

Plaque imaging volume analysis: technique and application

Alessandro Murgia et al. Cardiovasc Diagn Ther. 2020 Aug.

Abstract

The prevention and management of atherosclerosis poses a tough challenge to public health organizations worldwide. Together with myocardial infarction, stroke represents its main manifestation, with up to 25% of all ischemic strokes being caused by thromboembolism arising from the carotid arteries. Therefore, a vast number of publications have focused on the characterization of the culprit lesion, the atherosclerotic plaque. A paradigm shift appears to be taking place at the current state of research, as the attention is gradually moving from the classically defined degree of stenosis to the identification of features of plaque vulnerability, which appear to be more reliable predictors of recurrent cerebrovascular events. The present review will offer a perspective on the present state of research in the field of carotid atherosclerotic disease, focusing on the imaging modalities currently used in the study of the carotid plaque and the impact that such diagnostic means are having in the clinical setting.

Keywords: Carotid atherosclerosis; computed tomography angiography; imaging biomarkers; volumetric analysis; vulnerable plaque.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/cdt.2020.03.01). The series “Advanced Imaging in The Diagnosis of Cardiovascular Diseases” was commissioned by the editorial office without any funding or sponsorship. LS served as the unpaid Guest Editor of the series and serves as an unpaid editorial board member of Cardiovascular Diagnosis and Therapy from July 2019 to June 2021. The authors have no other conflicts of interest to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Visual outputs analysis demonstrating a severe stenosis just distal to the right carotid bifurcation. (A,B,C) Cross-sectional representations in the axial, sagittal and coronal plane respectively; (D) three-dimensional segmentation of lumen, vessel wall, and plaque components. yellow, LRNC; green, calcification; blue, matrix.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Visual outputs analysis demonstrating a severe stenosis at the level of the right carotid bifurcation and extending into the right internal carotid artery. (A,B,C) Cross-sectional representations in the axial, sagittal and coronal plane respectively; (D) three-dimensional segmentation of lumen, vessel wall, and plaque components. yellow, LRNC; green, calcification; blue, matrix.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Visual outputs analysis demonstrating a severe stenosis at the level of the left carotid bifurcation and extending into the left internal carotid artery. (A,B,C) Cross-sectional representations in the axial, sagittal and coronal plane respectively; (D) three-dimensional segmentation of lumen, vessel wall, and plaque components. yellow, LRNC; green, calcification; blue, matrix.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Visual outputs analysis demonstrating a severe stenosis in the initial tract of the right internal carotid artery. (A,B,D) Cross- sectional representations in the axial, sagittal and coronal plane respectively; (C) three-dimensional segmentation of lumen, vessel wall, and plaque components. yellow, LRNC; green, calcification; blue, matrix.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Barquera S, Pedroza-Tobías A, Medina C, et al. Global Overview of the Epidemiology of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease. Arch Med Res 2015;46:328-38. 10.1016/j.arcmed.2015.06.006 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Naghshtabrizi B, Moradi A, Amiri J, et al. An Evaluation of the Numbers and Locations of Coronary Artery Disease with Some of the Major Atherosclerotic Risk Factors in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease. J Clin Diagn Res 2017;11:OC21-4. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Yanez ND, Burke GL, Manolio T, et al. Sibling history of myocardial infarction or stroke and risk of cardiovascular disease in the elderly: the Cardiovascular Health Study. Ann Epidemiol 2009;19:858-66. 10.1016/j.annepidem.2009.07.095 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Truelsen T, Begg S, Mathers C. The global burden of cerebrovascular disease. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2000. Available online: http://www.who.int/healthinfo/statistics/bod_cerebrovasculardiseasestrok..., Accessed October 30, 2019.
    1. Ooi YC, Gonzalez NR. Management of extracranial carotid artery disease. Cardiol Clin 2015;33:1-35. 10.1016/j.ccl.2014.09.001 - DOI - PMC - PubMed