الفهرس 
maging of Coronary Atherosclerosis by Computed TomographyOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
In the evaluation of patients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD), the role of non-invasive imaging has increased exponentially over the past decades, particularly in patients with an intermediate likelihood of CAD.
Multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) has emerged as a powerful tool for accurate non-invasive assessment of CAD whenever “appropriate”. It has a high sensitivity and specificity for diagnosis and risk assessment of CAD if used appropriately and with proper patient selection.
MDCT allows assessment of CAD by two methods, namely calcium screening and CT angiography. The recent developments expanded the scope of cardiac CT to allow, not just visualization of the coronary artery lumen and detection of stenosis, but also detection and quantification of different types of atherosclerotic plaques, which was shown to have a prognostic value by determining the “vulnerable” plaques which are more liable to cause acute coronary syndromes (ACS), and thus associated with increased mortality.
Meanwhile, preventive cardiology has emerged as a promising branch in recent decades. It focuses mainly on determining the risk factors for CAD and dealing with the “modifiable” risk factors to decrease the burden of CAD. Smoking, obesity, diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidemia are among the well-known modifiable CV risk factors.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, uric acid (UA) has been suggested as a CV risk factor, and numerous studies were conducted to determine its actual relationship to CAD, which is still in fact a matter of debate.