016: Evidence of systemic plaque vulnerability in acute coronary syndromes with FDG-positron emission tomography and computed tomographic angiography in the BIOCORE-2 study

PurposeAtherosclerotic plaque vulnerability is a systemic phenomenon and is often associated with severe plaque infiltration with inflammatory cells. 18-Fluoro-deoxyglucose (FDG) accumulates in inflammatory cells of atherosclerotic plaques. The aim of this study was to assess whether 1) FDG uptake in the aorta and carotid arteries measured by positron emission tomography (PET) is higher in patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) than in patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD) and; 2) associated with morphological markers of plaque instability detected with computed tomography angiography (CTA).MethodsPatients with ACS (n=50) or stable CAD (n=28) underwent a PET 90 minutes af…