SAN FRANCISCO, Sep 25, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- U.S. doctors say the untreated
plaques causing unexpected heart attacks are not mild lesions as previously
thought.
The plaques are made up of fat, cholesterol, calcium and other substances found
in the blood. The plaques at high risk of causing an adverse cardiovascular
event had large plaque burdens and/or small lumen areas -- clear space in the
vessel.
These areas were invisible to the coronary angiogram but identifiable by
intra-vessel ultra sound imaging, the researchers said.
The areas with the highest risk were those showing a necrotic core -- area of
dead tissue -- but without a visible cap of fibrous tissue -- a thin cap
fibroatheroma.
"As a result of the trial, we are closer to being able to predict -- and
therefore prevent -- sudden, unexpected adverse cardiac events," Dr. Gregg Stone
of Columbia University Hospital and the New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia
University Medical Center, the study's principal investigator, said in a
statement
The findings of the multicenter study, which involved 700 acute coronary
syndrome patients, were presented at the 21st annual Transcatheter
Cardiovascular Therapeutics scientific symposium in San Francisco.
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Copyright 2009 by United Press International