Allen J. Taylor • Todd C. Villines
Editors
2013
Advances in medical imaging technologies continue to drive new knowledge in the fi eld of atherosclerosis. Research continues to push the limits of the acuity and accuracy of medical imaging, allowing us to understand more about cardiovascular anatomy, function, and interrelationships with other organ systems. As with many areas of medical research, advances in atherosclerosis imaging have experienced crystalline growth, where knowledge resulting from one avenue of development has spurred further growth in others. Within the past decades, we have learned a great deal about the anatomical, functional, and molecular changes in atherosclerosis. Atherosclerotic plaques do not simply increase in size to produce clinical symptoms, but factors in fl uencing plaque burden, in fl ammation, vascular reactivity, and lesion stability intertwine to produce an assortment of possible adverse clinical consequences.