Journal of cardiovascular computed tomography
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J Cardiovasc Comput Tomogr · Nov 2017
Comparative StudyCoronary CT angiography features of ruptured and high-risk atherosclerotic plaques: Correlation with intra-vascular ultrasound.
Features of ruptured and high-risk plaque have been described on coronary computed tomography angiography (coronary CTA), but not systematically assessed against intravascular ultrasound (IVUS). We examined the ability of coronary CTA to identify IVUS defined ruptured plaque and Virtual Histology Intravascular Ultrasound (VH-IVUS) defined thin-cap fibroatheroma (TCFA). ⋯ Compared with intravascular ultrasound, coronary CTA identifies ruptured plaque with good specificity but poor sensitivity. We have identified a novel high-risk feature on coronary CTA (necrotic core/fibrous plaque ratio that is associated with VH-IVUS defined-TCFA.