Pathology of the vulnerable plaque

Abstract

Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease that occurs preferentially in patients with risk factors and a genetic predisposition.1 Depending on the definitions used for inclusion of early lesions of atherosclerosis, it is a disease that affects all populations from an early age. Because 70% of the morbidity and mortality from coronary disease is the result of plaque rupture, which generally does not occur until the third decade of life, it is important to establish definitions of terminologies that are used to describe the progression of atherosclerotic lesions from the early stages through to advanced, unstable, thrombosis-prone plaques.