Plaque characteristics independently tied to cardiovascular events

Reuters Health - 27/11/2020 - In addition to traditional cardiovascular risk factors, inclusion of plaque characteristics beyond thickness alone can enhance prediction of cardiovascular disease (CVD) events. "We used high-resolution MRI to image atherosclerotic plaques in the carotid arteries of participants without prior evidence for cardiovascular disease in the Atherosclerotic Risk in Communities (ARIC) study," explained Dr. Bruce A. Wasserman of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, in Baltimore, Maryland. "Those participants found to have plaque containing a lipid core were at a higher risk for future cardiovascular events, which included coronary heart disease events and ischemic strokes," he told Reuters Health by email. Dr. Wasserman and colleagues note in their paper in JAMA Cardiology that despite some positive findings, it remains unclear "whether measures of MRI plaque characteristics are associated with cardiovascular events independent of measures o...

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Posted on 27 November, 20204 December, 2020