A peripheral blood gene expression score is associated with plaque volume and phenotype by intravascular ultrasound with radiofrequency backscatter analysis: results from the ATLANTA study.

Background: A composite, peripheral gene expression score based on quantitative RNA-measurements has been validated for detecting stenosis against invasive coronary X-ray angiography. IVUS/VH has been validated for quantitative measurements of coronary plaque volume and composition and has been shown to be predictive of outcomes and treatment effects. The correlation between peripheral gene expression and coronary plaque composition by intravascular ultrasound with radiofrequency backscatter (IVUS/VH) is unknown.

Apoprotein B, small-dense LDL and impaired HDL remodeling is associated with larger plaque burden and more noncalcified plaque as assessed by coronary CT angiography and intravascular ultrasound with radiofrequency backscatter: results from the ATLANTA I study.

Background: Apoprotein B-containing lipoproteins are atherogenic, but atheroprotective functions of apoprotein A-containing high-density lipoprotein (HDL) particles are poorly understood. The association between lipoproteins and plaque components by coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) and intravascular ultrasound with radiofrequency backscatter (IVUS/VH) has not been evaluated.

Methods And Results: Quantitative, 3-dimensional plaque measurements were performed in 60 patients with CTA and IVUS/VH.

Prospective, head-to-head comparison of quantitative coronary angiography, quantitative computed tomography angiography, and intravascular ultrasound for the prediction of hemodynamic significance in intermediate and severe lesions, using fractional flow reserve as reference standard (from the ATLANTA I and II Study).

The objective of this study was to compare the diagnostic accuracy of quantitative coronary angiography (QCA), coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA), and intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) with fractional flow reserve (FFR) measurements. Eighty-five lesions (40% to 99% diameter stenosis) in 85 patients were prospectively interrogated by QCA, CTA, IVUS, and FFR. Minimal lumen diameter (MLD), percent diameter stenosis (%DS), minimal lumen area (MLA), and percent area stenosis (%AS) were measured.

Prospective validation that vulnerable plaque associated with major adverse outcomes have larger plaque volume, less dense calcium, and more non-calcified plaque by quantitative, three-dimensional measurements using intravascular ultrasound with radiofrequency backscatter analysis : results from the ATLANTA I Study.

Whether quantitative, two-dimensional, and three-dimensional plaque measurements by intravascular ultrasound with radiofrequency backscatter (IVUS/VH) are different between intermediate lesions with or without major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) is unknown. IVUS/VH-derived parameters were compared in 60 patients with an intermediate coronary lesion (40-70 %) between lesions that did or did not result in MACE over 12 months. IVUS/VH measurements were done at the site of the minimal lumen area (MLA) and on a per-plaque basis, defined by 40 % plaque burden.

Prospective validation of standardized, 3-dimensional, quantitative coronary computed tomographic plaque measurements using radiofrequency backscatter intravascular ultrasound as reference standard in intermediate coronary arterial lesions: results from the ATLANTA (assessment of tissue characteristics, lesion morphology, and hemodynamics by angiography with fractional flow reserve, intravascular ultrasound and virtual histology, and noninvasive computed tomography in atherosclerotic plaques) I study.

Objectives: This study sought to determine the accuracy of 3-dimensional, quantitative measurements of coronary plaque by computed tomography angiography (CTA) against intravascular ultrasound with radiofrequency backscatter analysis (IVUS/VH).

Background: Quantitative, 3-dimensional coronary CTA plaque measurements have not been validated against IVUS/VH.

Methods: Sixty patients in a prospective study underwent coronary X-ray angiography, IVUS/VH, and coronary CTA.

Quantitative measurements of coronary arterial stenosis, plaque geometry, and composition are highly reproducible with a standardized coronary arterial computed tomographic approach in high-quality CT datasets.

Background: Computed tomographic (CT) coronary angiography provides a noninvasive method for coronary plaque detection and quantification, but data are limited on reproducibility of a quantitative evaluation.

Methods: Intrarater and interrater reliability of a semiquantitative and highly standardized, fully quantitative approach was evaluated in 480 coronary segments in 30 patients. Quantitative vessel-wall and plaque geometrical parameters (minimal lumen diameter [MLD], minimal lumen area [MLA], percentage of atheroma volume [PAV], and remodeling index [RI]) and compositional parameters (calcified plaque volume [CAP] and % of CAP [%CAP], noncalcified plaque [NCP] and % of NCP [%NCP], high-density NCP volume [HD-NCP] and % of HD-NCP [%HD-NCP] and low-density NCP volume [LD-NCP] and % of LD-NCP [%LD-NCP]) were measured.

Cardiovascular computed tomographic assessment of the effect of combination lipoprotein therapy on coronary arterial plaque: rationale and design of the AFRICA (Atorvastatin plus Fenofibric acid in the Reduction of Intermediate Coronary Atherosclerosis) study.

Whether combination lipoprotein therapy targeting apolipoprotein B (apoB)- and apoA-containing lipoprotein particles and triglycerides (TGs) in low-risk, asymptomatic subjects with coronary atherosclerosis alters the natural progression of plaques is unknown. This study was designed to compare the progression of coronary atherosclerosis in asymptomatic, low-risk subjects without previously known coronary artery disease but with the presence of plaque on a combination of atorvastatin 40 mg plus fenofibric acid 135 mg daily for 18 months, using cardiovascular computed tomography (CCT). This is an investigator-initiated, single-center, prospective, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, parallel-arm study.