Current advances in the imaging of atherosclerotic vulnerable plaque using nanoparticles

Engineering molecular nanoprobes to target early atherosclerosis: Precise diagnostic tools and promising therapeutic carriers

“…Moreover, the successful imaging of monocytes, macrophages, foam cells, and other plaque components, has enabled these nanoprobes to become promising in realizing the visualization of plaques, especially in the early stage of atherosclerosis 41 . Secondly, nanoprobes can act as efficient carriers for anti-inflammation and anti-lipid metabolism drug delivery, assisting in achieving therapeutic purposes 41 , 42 . In this sense, organic nanoparticles are classical examples to provide both platforms for improved detection (molecular imaging) and more efficacious treatment (drug delivery) of atherosclerosis, owing to their intrinsic physical properties, i.e.…”

Stroke risk prediction by color Doppler ultrasound of carotid artery-based deep learning using Inception V3 and VGG-16

“…TP + TN TP + TN + FP + FN (8) where true positive (TP) is the total number of accurately identified positive cases; the number of accurately categorized negative cases (cases without stenosis) is known as true negative (TN); false positive (FP) and false negative (FN) are the numbers of false positive and false negative instances with ground truth, that is, respectively, classified as positive and negative (28). (9) where y is the input patch's ground truth label, and calculating the gradient of the function L for the network weights W minimizes the loss function during the model training process.…”

“…Multiple studies used numerical simulations to analyze the fluid–structure interaction between the blood vessel wall and blood flowing through elastic arteries with eccentric stenotic plaque ( 7 ). With the rapid development of inspection techniques, contrast-enhanced ultrasound and ultra-microvascular imaging techniques are able to display new blood vessels with plaques, better assess the vulnerability of plaques, and improve the predictive value of cerebral infarction recurrence ( 8 , 9 ). However, due to the limitations of inspection instruments and contrast media, contraindications cannot be used as routine screening.…”

Detecting vulnerable carotid plaque and its component characteristics: Progress in related imaging techniques

“…Plaque calcification, fibrous plaque thickness, IPH, and LRNC can be characterized on multidetector-row CT (MDCT) based on voxel Hounsfield units. This technique has also been highly effective in detecting plaque ulcers and plaque neovascularization, with sensitivity and specificity exceeding 90% ( 19 ). Unfortunately, there is considerable overlap between the CT densities of LRNC, fibrous tissue, and IPH, resulting in reduced reliability in pixel by pixel assessment of plaque composition ( 9 ).…”