Type of plaque tied to CVD event risk: study
Those with lipid cores double the risk of having an event such as MI or ischaemic stroke: US research
In addition to traditional cardiovascular risk factors, inclusion of plaque characteristics beyond thickness alone can enhance prediction of cardiovascular disease (CVD) events, according to a new study.
The US researchers used high-resolution MRI to image atherosclerotic plaques in the carotid arteries of people without prior evidence for cardiovascular disease.
They found participants who had plaque containing a lipid core were more than twice as likely to have a future CVD events, including coronary heart disease events and ischemic strokes.
The team from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, in Baltimore, US, followed 1256 participants in the Atherosclerotic Risk in Communities MRI sub-study for a median of 10.5 years.
