Progress in atherosclerotic plaque imaging

Table 1 Plaque feature identification through non-invasive diagnostic imaging (without using ionizing radiation)

	US	CE-US	MRI	CE-MRI
Morphology features
Outward remodelling	-1	-1	-1	-1
Plaque burden	-2	[39]1	-1	-1
Lipid pool	[32]1	-2	[50]1	[57]1
Necrotic core	[30]1	-2	[53]1
Composition
Fibro-fatty	-2	-2	[50]1	[57]1
Fibrous plaque	[32]1	-2	-1	-1
Dense calcium	[32]1	-2	[50]1	[58]1
Biological features
Inflammation	-2	[39]1	[57]1	[60]1
Macrophage infiltration			-2
Neo-angiogenesis	-2	[36]1	-2	[59]1
TFCA	-2	-2	[50]1	[142]1
TFCA + MI	-2	-2	-2	-2

¹Limited clinical experience;

²research in progress. US: Ultrasound; CE-US: Contrast-enhanced ultrasound; MRI: Magnetic resonance imaging; CE-MRI: Contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging; MI: Macrophage infiltration; TFCA: Thin fibrous cap atheroma.