Ex vivo coronary artery computed tomography for atherosclerotic plaque characterization

Coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) is the most utilized non-invasive imaging technique for determining the presence, burden, and severity of coronary atherosclerosis. CCTA allows for the assessment of luminal stenosis and plaque phenotyping, 1 Maurovich-Horvat P. Ferencik M. Voros S. et al. Comprehensive plaque assessment by coronary CT angiography. Nat Rev Cardiol. 2014; 11: 390-402https://doi.org/10.1038/nrcardio.2014.60 Crossref PubMed Scopus (255) Google Scholar the latter of which relies on Hounsfield unit (HU) ranges and can be used for further risk stratification. 2 Hecht H.S. Achenbach S. Kondo T. Narula J. High-risk plaque features on coronary CT angiography. JACC Cardiovasc Imaging. 2015; 8: 1336-1339https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcmg.2014.11.018 Crossref PubMed Scopus (17) Google Scholar An ex vivo method of coronary CT reflective of in vivo CCTA does not exist, limiting advancement of the understanding of the biomolecular components underlying CCTA-derived plaque phenotypes. We have developed, histologically validated, and applied 3 Nadel J. Tumanov S. Kong S.M.Y. et al. Intraplaque myeloperoxidase activity as biomarker of unstable atheroma and adverse clinical outcomes in human atherosclerosis. JACC Adv. 2023; (in press) Crossref PubMed Google Scholar a method for identifying the spectrum of CCTA-derived atherosclerotic plaques.