Coronary Atherosclerotic Plaque Characteristics and Cardiovascular Risk Factors - Insights From an Optical Coherence Tomography Study.

Background: The association between cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) and the risk of coronary events is widely acknowledged. Whether individual risk factors may be associated with distinct plaque characteristics is currently unclear. We investigated the relationship between CVRF and coronary plaque burden and phenotype.

Transcoronary gradients of vascular miRNAs and coronary atherosclerotic plaque characteristics.

Aims: Circulating microRNAs (miRs) may reflect pathophysiologically relevant processes in the atherosclerotically diseased coronary arterial wall. Given the unmet medical need to identify patients with an unstable plaque phenotype, we determined the relation of circulating atherosclerosis-regulatory miRs with plaque phenotypes.

Methods And Results: We assessed coronary atherosclerotic plaque burden and phenotype by optical coherence tomography in 52 patients and measured the levels of circulating miRs across the transcoronary gradient.

Estimation of Values below the Limit of Detection of a Contemporary Sensitive Troponin I Assay Improves Diagnosis of Acute Myocardial Infarction.

Background: The limit of detection (LoD) is the minimal amount of a substance that can be consistently detected. In the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) many patients present with troponin concentrations below the LoD of contemporary sensitive cardiac troponin I (cs-cTnI) assays. These censored values below the LoD influence the diagnostic performance of these assays compared to highly sensitive cTnI (hs-cTnI) assays.