Molecular Imaging and Non-molecular Imaging of Atherosclerotic Plaque Thrombosis

Abstract

Thrombosis in the context of atherosclerosis typically results in life-threatening consequences, including acute coronary events and ischemic stroke. As such, early detection and treatment of thrombosis in atherosclerosis patients is essential. Clinical diagnosis of thrombosis in these patients is typically based upon a combination of imaging approaches. However, conventional imaging modalities primarily focus on assessing the anatomical structure and physiological function, severely constraining their ability to detect early thrombus formation or the processes underlying such pathology. Recently, however, novel molecular and non-molecular imaging strategies have been developed to assess thrombus composition and activity at the molecular and cellular levels more accurately. These approaches have been successfully used to markedly reduce rates of atherothrombotic events in patients suffering from acute coronary syndrome (ACS) by facilitating simultaneous diagnosis and personalized treatment of thrombosis. Moreover, these modalities allow monitoring of plaque condition for preventing plaque rupture and associated adverse cardiovascular events in such patients. Sustained developments in molecular and non-molecular imaging technologies have enabled the increasingly specific and sensitive diagnosis of atherothrombosis in animal studies and clinical settings, making these technologies invaluable to patients' health in the future. In the present review, we discuss current progress regarding the non-molecular and molecular imaging of thrombosis in different animal studies and atherosclerotic patients.

Near-infrared metal agents assisting precision medicine: from strategic design to bioimaging and therapeutic applications

“…Light-triggered biomedical applications in the ultravioletvisible (UV-vis) region (200-650 nm) are limited due to its restricted penetration depth, high auto-fluorescence background, and ultralow permissible exposure. 56,57 Therefore, numerous efforts were made to achieve both precise imaging and effective phototherapy, including making wavelength redshifting into the NIR bio-window (650-1700 nm), designing two-photon metal agents and introducing rare earth metals with up-conversion fluorescence function. [58][59][60][61] Among these research studies, Tang and our group simultaneously developed NIR-II fluorescent metallacycles/metallacages via selfassembling NIR-II (1000-1700 nm) emissive ligands with metal acceptors to realize in vivo NIR-II fluorescent imaging-guided chemo-phototherapy in deep tissues.…”

Non-invasive Multimodality Imaging of Coronary Vulnerable Patient

“…Several studies used radionuclide imaging approaches to analyze several thrombosis-related molecular markers ( 43 ). Factor XIIIa radiotracer and ( 44 ) 18 F-GP1 are safe and promising novels PET tracer for imaging acute arterial thrombosis with a favorable biodistribution and pharmacokinetic profile ( 45 ).…”

Optical and X-ray attenuation properties of hafnium oxide nanoparticles surface functionalized with fucoidan: toward the early diagnosis of atherothrombotic diseases

“…Hence, new diagnostics could be based on visualizing thrombus at the diseased a Universite ´Sorbonne Paris Nord and Universite ´Paris Cite ´, INSERM, LVTS, F-75018 vascular wall rather than just assessing risk factors. 4,5 Detecting at an early stage the preliminary events of thrombosis would represent a significant advance in cardiovascular medicine. Platelet activation and aggregation is one of the main ''molecular signatures'' of thrombotic diseases, and represents a major link between inflammation, thrombosis and atherogenesis.…”