Vulnerable Plaque Detection with Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) in Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)

Thank you for sharing a part of your literature with me. Based on the information provided, it seems that your research focuses on coronary artery disease (CAD) and the identification of vulnerable plaques to prevent adverse cardiovascular events.

The introduction highlights the significance of CAD as a major cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. It also mentions that patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) who undergo percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) may experience major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) during follow-up, both related to culprit lesions and non-culprit lesions.

The term 'vulnerable plaque' is introduced, which originated in the 1980s to describe plaques that are prone to rupture and trigger coronary events. Autopsy studies have characterized vulnerable plaques as lesions with a large lipid-rich necrotic core covered by a thin fibrous cap infiltrated by macrophages.

Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) is mentioned as a helpful tool for identifying high-risk features in non-culprit lesions. These features include thin-capped fibroatheromas, plaque burden of 70% or greater, minimum luminal area of 4.0 mm2 or less, or a combination of these characteristics.

However, it is mentioned that adverse events are predominantly caused by the rupture of plaques with high lipid content. To detect lipid-rich plaques, near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is introduced as a method that utilizes near-infrared light absorption and scattering patterns by cholesterol particles. The lipid content of coronary plaques can be measured using NIRS and represented by the lipid core burden index (LCBI).

Based on this information, it appears that your research aims to explore the role of vulnerable plaques and the potential of NIRS in detecting lipid-rich plaques. It may be beneficial to provide more details about your study objectives, methodology, and potential implications in the subsequent parts of your literature.