Intracoronary thermography: Basic principles

Plaque disruption with superimposed thrombosis is the main cause of events such as the acute coronary syndromes of unstable angina, myocardial infarction, and sudden death.2 It is suggested that increased plaque heat is a feature of vulnerable plaques.3 This heat might be caused by increased metabolic activity of inflammatory cells, such as macrophages, or by enzymatic extracellular matrix breakdown. Detection of heat could thus possibly lead to detection of vulnerable plaques.