VIDEO: Advances in imaging systems, agents could improve high-risk atherosclerotic plaque detection

ORLANDO, Fla. — Farouc Jaffer, MD, PhD, medical director of the CAD program at Massachusetts General Hospital, offers insight into advances in targeted imaging for plaque at the annual American Heart Association Scientific Session.

“One of the holy grails in cardiology is to be able to understand atherosclerotic plaques that might progress to cause heart attacks or sudden death,” he said.

Jaffer provides background on research to-date, highlighting the impetus for as well as challenges in identifying complication-causing plaques with imaging.

He covers “targets that have yielded some fruit” but emphasizes current tools are yet unable to predict precisely. “Because of that imprecision, we cannot take clinical action based on an image in the coronary space.”

From an investigator perspective, Jaffer discusses the path to bring coronary biological molecular imaging to the human environment, detailing the distinct aspects of system design and imaging agent development.

Jaffer details advances in intravascular imaging systems that combine fluorescence imaging and structural imaging, including OCT or ultrasound, as well as in optical probes that “are allowing us to get closer to clinical” and agents that could gain FDA approval.

“We hope that in the next several years this will really come to clinical fruition and offer a new approach to detect high-risk plaques.”