Characterization of Coronary Atherosclerotic Plaque in Ex-vivo Human Coronary Arteries Using High Definition Computed Tomography in Comparison to Intravascular Ultrasound, Optical Coherence Tomography and Histology

冠心病是冠状动脉粥样硬化的表现。在疾病的早期阶段，患者是没有症状的。在近50%的冠心病患者中，冠状动脉事件是疾病的主要表现。这些事件中的大多数是由动脉粥样硬化斑块破裂和血管血栓闭塞引起的。一种特定类型的斑块，被称为脆弱斑块，特别容易破裂。斑块被证明有一层薄薄的纤维帽，覆盖着一个大的脂核。识别这些脆弱的斑块一直是密集研究的主题。这包括血管内超声、热成像和光学相干断层扫描等方面的进展。然而，这些是侵入性技术，与一定比率的并发症相关。与此同时，非侵入性的冠状动脉成像技术，如计算机断层扫描(CT)，在诊断冠心病方面得到了广泛的接受。本研究的目的是评估一种新的心脏CT探测器技术是否能够可靠地识别这些富含脂质的斑块，该技术既提供了更高的特殊分辨率，又具有在X射线束光谱内执行单色重建的可能性。

Coronary heart disease is the manifestation of atherosclerosis in the coronary vessels. In the early stages of disease patients are asymptomatic. In nearly 50% of patients suffering from coronary heart disease, a coronary event is the primary manifestation of the disease. The majority of these events are caused by rupture of the atherosclerotic plaque followed by thrombotic occlusion of the vessel. A certain type of plaque, coined the vulnerable plaque, is especially prone to rupture. The plaques have been shown to have a thin fibrous cap covering a large lipid core. The identification these vulnerable plaques has been the subject of intense research. This includes advances such as intravascular ultrasound, thermography and optical coherence tomography. However, these are invasive techniques that are associated with a certain rate of complications. At he same time non-invasive techniques for coronary imaging such computed tomography (CT) have gained widespread acceptance in diagnosing coronary heart disease. The aim of the present study is to evaluate whether a new detector technology for cardiac CT that offers both an increased special resolution as well as the possibility to perform monochromatic reconstructions within the spectrum of the x-ray beam, can reliably identify these lipid rich plaques.