Department of Biochemistry, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht (CARIM), Maastricht University, PO Box 616, 6200, MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Mol Imaging Biol. 2012 Oct;14(5):523-33. doi: 10.1007/s11307-012-0586-7.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is still the leading cause of death in the Western World. Adverse outcomes of CVD include stroke, myocardial infarction, and heart failure. Atherosclerosis is considered to be the major cause of CVD and is estimated to cause half of all deaths in developed countries. Atherosclerotic lesions of the vessel wall may obstruct blood flow mechanically through stenosis, but rupture of atherosclerotic plaques causing formation of occlusive thrombi is far more prevalent. Unfortunately, conventional diagnostic tools fail to assess whether a plaque is vulnerable to rupture. Research over the past decade identified the biological processes that are implicated in the course towards plaque rupture, like cell death and inflammation. Knowledge about plaque biology propelled the development of imaging techniques that target biologic processes in order to predict the vulnerable plaque. This paper discusses novel and existing molecular imaging targets and addresses advantages and disadvantages of these targets and respective imaging techniques in respect of clinical application and socio-economic impact.
心血管疾病（CVD）仍然是西方世界的主要死因。CVD 的不良后果包括中风、心肌梗死和心力衰竭。动脉粥样硬化被认为是 CVD 的主要原因，据估计，它在发达国家造成了一半的死亡。血管壁的动脉粥样硬化病变可能通过狭窄而机械地阻碍血流，但导致闭塞性血栓形成的动脉粥样硬化斑块破裂更为常见。不幸的是，传统的诊断工具无法评估斑块是否容易破裂。过去十年的研究确定了与斑块破裂过程相关的生物学过程，如细胞死亡和炎症。对斑块生物学的了解推动了成像技术的发展，这些技术针对生物学过程，以预测易损斑块。本文讨论了新型和现有的分子成像靶点，并讨论了这些靶点及其各自的成像技术在临床应用和社会经济影响方面的优缺点。
