Characterization of Atherosclerotic Plaques by NIRS-IVUS System| Biomed Grid

Nowadays, the pathologies of the cardiovascular system represent the main cause of mortality in our country: about 45% of all deaths are, in fact, attributable to cardiovascular diseases. In particular, of the 250,000 cases of annual death due to cardiovascular diseases, two-thirds are attributable to coronary heart disease. Atherosclerosis is the vascular pathology with the greatest clinical impact because it is responsible for myocardial infarction and cerebrovascular accidents that represent the main cause of death and morbidity in industrialized countries. Coronary atherosclerosis is a multifactorial pathology that, to become clinically manifest, requires the formation of a fibro-lipid plaque inside the wall of an artery that reduces blood flow; it is a dynamic degenerative disease that can have a sudden transition from a chronic condition to clinical instability following a process of plaque rupture and thrombotic overlap. The primary objective of the research remains the early identification of the lesion at risk of instability in order to prevent the clinical event. This lesion on the path of instability is described as a “vulnerable plaque”, i.e. a lesion with a high probability of becoming responsible for an acute event in the future. The desire to identify and treat vulnerable plaques before major adverse events stimulated the development of invasive and non-invasive high-resolution imaging techniques.