In vivo evaluation of coronary atheroma burden and its association with focal coronary endothelial function

心脏病仍然是西方世界的主要死亡原因。最近已经确定，冠状动脉斑块堆积的负担是未来心脏病发作的主要预测因素。此外，人们还知道冠状动脉内的松弛受损也会增加未来心脏病发作的风险。这两个关键因素之间的动态关系尚不清楚，了解这一点对于预测未来的心脏病发作很重要。

Heart attacks remain the leading cause of death in the western world. It has been recently identified that the burden of plaque buildup in the coronary arteries is a major predictor of future heart attacks. Furthermore, it also known that impaired relaxation within the coronary arteries also increases the future risk of heart attacks. The dynamic relationship between these two critical factors remains unknown and an understanding of this is important for predicting future heart attacks.