Imaging arterial wall disease

Ultrasonographic imaging of the carotid arteries allows assessment of both early and advanced atherosclerotic disease. This noninvasive technique has played a central role in many recent epidemiological studies and is being u sed increasingly for evaluating the efficacy of atherosclerosis prevention trials. New developments in ultrasound equipment, the use of echocontrast a gents, novel applications of three- and four-dimensional sonography and in vivo characterization of plaque constituents with high-resolution MRI have broadened the scope of imaging of arterial walls, providing both enhanced i nformation on disease progression as well as new insights into pathomechani sms of carotid plaque embolization, This article highlights pertinent issue s of imaging of arterial wall disease and discusses important areas of curr ent and future research in this field. Copyright(C)2000S.KargerAG.Basel.