Abstract
Atherosclerosis is characterized by thickening of the walls of the arteries, a process that occurs slowly and 'silently' over decades. This prolonged course of disease provides a window of opportunity for diagnosis before symptoms occur. But, until recently, only advanced atherosclerotic disease could be observed. Now, developments in imaging technology offer many enticing prospects, including detecting atherosclerosis early, grouping individuals by the probability that they will develop symptoms of atherosclerosis, assessing the results of treatment and improving the current understanding of the biology of atherosclerosis.
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Acknowledgements
This work was partly funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
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Correspondence should be addressed to Z.A.F. (zahi.fayad@mssm.edu).
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Sanz, J., Fayad, Z. Imaging of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Nature 451, 953–957 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06803
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06803
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