High-risk plaque in patients with near normal coronary angiograms.

The increased use of cardiac computed tomography angiography in the emergency room to triage patients who present with chest pain syndrome has led to the identification of individuals with coronary plaques with high-risk characteristics in the absence of significant stenoses. Anecdotal observations have suggested that the presence of coronary high-risk plaque results in an increased risk of acute coronary syndrome over time. This case presentation represents an example of this subgroup of patients. Intuitively, it would seem that high-dose statin therapy would be the treatment of choice, with percutaneous intervention reserved for the development of flow-limiting lesions; however, a prospective trial to determine outcomes to our knowledge has not been performed.