Peripheral Atherosclerosis in Acute Coronary Syndrome Patients with Plaque Rupture Vs Plaque Erosion: A Prospective Coronary Optical Coherence Tomography and Peripheral Ultrasound Study

Greater peripheral atherosclerosis burden has been demonstrated in patients with coronary PR, shown as significantly higher prevalence of peripheral plaques (93.4% vs 79.1%, P ＜ .001), more sites of vascular beds affected by atherosclerosis, and a larger number of plaques per patient. Patients with coronary PR had more peripheral vulnerability including calcification (64.9% vs. 45.3%, P = .002), heterogeneous plaque (77.3% vs 54.7%, P ＜ .001), and surface irregularity (60.2% vs. 37.2%, P ＜ .001), independent of conventional coronary risk factor profile. ACS = acute coronary syndrome; PE = plaque erosion; PR = plaque rupture.Image, graphical abstract