From Vulnerable Plaque to Vulnerable Patient

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease results in millions of sudden deaths annually, and coronary artery disease accounts for the majority of this toll. Despite major advances in the treatment of coronary artery disease, a large number of victims of the disease who are apparently healthy die suddenly without prior symptoms. Available screening and diagnostic methods are insufficient to identify the victims before the event occurs. The recognition of the role of the vulnerable plaque has opened new avenues in the field of cardiovascular medicine. This consensus document concludes the following. (1) Rupture-prone plaques are not the only vulnerable plaques. All types of atherosclerotic plaques with high likelihood of thrombotic complications and rapid progression should be considered as vulnerable plaques. We propose a classification for clinical as well as pathological evaluation of vulnerable plaques. (2) Vulnerable plaques are not the only culprit factors for the development of acute coronary syndromes, myocardial infarction, and sudden cardiac death. Vulnerable blood (prone to thrombosis) and vulnerable myocardium (prone to fatal arrhythmia) play an important role in the outcome. Therefore, the term “vulnerable patient” may be more appropriate and is proposed now for the identification of subjects with a high likelihood of developing cardiac events in the near future. (3) A quantitative method for cumulative risk assessment of vulnerable patients needs to be developed that may include variables based on plaque, blood, and myocardial vulnerability. This chapter reports the consensus document created among experts on vulnerable plaque, vulnerable blood, and vulnerable myocardium, and provides an outline of the overall risk assessment of the vulnerable patient.