Youssef S Abdelwahed, Gregor Nelles, Clara Frick, Claudio Seppelt, Denitsa Meteva, Barbara E Stähli, Himanshu Rai, Matthias Riedel, Carsten Skurk, Ursula Rauch-Kröhnert, Arash Haghikia, David Sinning, Henryk Dreger, Fabian Knebel, Tobias Trippel, Maximillian Krisper, Jens Klotsche, Michael Joner, Ulf Landmesser, David M Leistner
AIMS: Rupture of the fibrous cap (RFC) represents the main pathophysiological mechanism causing acute coronary syndromes (ACS). Destabilization due to plaque biomechanics is considered to be importantly involved, exact mechanisms triggering plaque ruptures are, however, unknown. This study aims at characterizing the relation between plaque components and rupture points at ACS-causing culprit lesions in a large cohort of ACS-patients assessed by high-resolution intracoronary imaging. METHODS AND RESULTS: Within the prospective, multicentric OPTICO-ACS study program, the ACS-causing culprit plaques of 282 consecutive patients were investigated following a standardized optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging protocol...
December 14, 2021: European Heart Journal Cardiovascular Imaging