Читать книгу Interventional Cardiology - Группа авторов - Страница 38

In atherosclerotic plaques, neovascularization proliferates from the adventitia into the arterial wall in order to supply nutrition and inflammatory cell accumulation to the lesion. Also, micro‐vessels play a role in plaque haemorrhage associated with lipid core expansion through the accumulation of free cholesterol from erythrocyte membranes [89]. Therefore, pathological neovascularization of the artery wall is a consistent feature of atherosclerotic plaque development and progression of disease. In addition, it has also been recognized as a common feature of plaque vulnerability [89]. Some previous reports showed that micro‐vessels are increased in coronary lesions from patients with acute myocardial infarction [158, 159]. Micro‐channels are characterized using OCT as black holes with a diameter of 50–300 μm within plaque that are present on at least three consecutive frames (Figure 1.5). According to a study that examined 63 patients with CAD, micro‐channels detected by OCT evaluation were associated with a higher incidence of concomitant TCFAs and increased high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein levels, which indicates the importance of intraplaque micro‐channels as a marker for plaque vulnerability [160].