Future non-invasive imaging to detect vascular plaque instability and subclinical non-obstructive atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis underlies the major causes of death in the Western World. Our main goal is to detect early changes of atherosclerosis and to identify subjects at highest cardiovascular risk that may aid in the development of prevention approaches and better management that will decrease cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The new methods that are of interest include the advanced vascular ultrasound methods, the infra red and near infra red imaging techniques, the EndoPat device that reflects peripheral arterial tone, the electron beam computed tomography, the magnetic resonance imaging, and the molecular imaging techniques. In this review we will focus on the future of advanced imaging techniques that are being developed to detect early (pre-clinical) development of atherosclerosis.