الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 78 |  |  |
| | | from | 78 | | |
Abstract
Coronary atherosclerosis is a pandemic disease representing the major cause of death in many countries worldwide. The broad spectrum of its clinical presentations including stable angina, unstable angina, non-ST elevation myocardial infarction and ST elevation myocardial infarction, depends on the composition of the atherosclerotic plaque and the changes occurring on the molecular and cellular level of this plaque. Some of these changes, such as increased plaque volume, positive remodeling, lipoprotein deposition in the form of noncalcified plaques, and calcification, can be detected by contrast-enhanced coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA).
Nowadays, the preferred method to study coronary atherosclerosis is by intracoronary, cross-sectional imaging methods, such as intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) (3). There are numerous serial studies on atherosclerosis progression/regression by QCA and IVUS, including randomized medical trials using imaged plaque modification as surrogate endpoints. However, QCA and IVUS are invasive and costly and are not free of complications and thus are not used for routine serial assessment of atherosclerosis.
MDCT coronary angiography has emerged as a noninvasive technique for the detection of coronary artery disease and has demonstrated good accuracy for the detection of coronary artery stenosis. Furthermore, studies in patients undergoing both IVUS and MSCT support the feasibility of MSCT to assess atherosclerotic plaque burden, remodeling, eccentricity, and calcified and noncalcified plaque in both stable and unstable patients.
In the present study, our objective was to study the natural history of coronary atherosclerosis along the full length of the coronary tree by MDCT and to assess the serial changes in coronary plaque size, lumen dimensions, and arterial remodeling in relation to risk factors over time.