IMAGING OF ATHEROSCLEROSIS .1.

Atherosclerosis is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the Western World. Standard imaging techniques such as angiography, ultra sonography and computed tomography are still not effective in detectin g atheromatous plaques in their early stages of development, when the lesions are most metabolically active and therapeutic interventions co uld be beneficial. These techniques identify morphological changes suc h as increased wall thickness, decreased luminal diameter or related h aemodynamic changes such as turbulence of blood flow. Unfortunately, a ll these phenomena occur when the plaque has evolved and encroaches on the lumen. There is a need for non-invasive methods that could assess the presence and the extension of atherosclerotic disease in its earl y stages, when the lesions are in their metabolically most active stag e but still do not narrow the diameter of the lumen. Part I of this ar ticle presents an overview of the diagnostic procedures angiography, s onography, computed tomography and magnetic resonance tomography in im aging atherosclerotic lesions. Part TT will concentrate on the diagnos tic possibilities of scintigraphic imaging and positron emission tomog raphy.