Table 1.
General overview of the differences in plaque, patients, and thrombus characteristics between eroded and ruptured plaques
| Plaque erosion | Plaque rupture | References | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plaque composition | Little or no lipid core | Large lipid pool | 13–17 |
| Endothelial denudation | Greater necrotic core | ||
| Smooth muscle cells rich | Thin fibrous cap | ||
| Matrix rich (proteoglycan, glycosaminoglycan, hyaluronic acid) | Abundant monocytes, macrophages, and foam cells | ||
| Neutrophil predominance | Greater plaque burden | ||
| Plaque location | |||
| LAD | 40%–66% | 40%–46% | 32–36 |
| RCA | 22%–30.6% | 35%–59% | 32–36 |
| LCX | 8.1%–14.9% | 9.2%–15.6% | 32–36 |
| Sex and age differences a | |||
| Female | <50 years: | <50 years: | 37–39 |
| 74.0%–77.1% | 22.9%–26.0% | ||
| >50 years: | >50 years: | ||
| 30.3%–44.1% | 55.9%–69.7% | ||
| Male | <50 years: | <50 years: | 37–39 |
| 45.6%–65.2% | 34.8%–53.4% | ||
| >50 years: | >50 years: | ||
| 18.1%–43.4% | 56.5%–81.9% | ||
| Clinical presentation | NSTEMI | STEMI | 23 |
| Thrombus composition | Non-occlusive | Occlusive | 40–43 |
| Platelet rich | Platelet and fibrin rich | ||
| RBCs poor | Abundant RBCs | ||
| NETs present | |||
LAD, left anterior descending artery; LCX, left circumflex artery; NETs, neutrophil extracellular traps; NSTEMI, non-ST elevation myocardial infarction; RBC, red blood cells; RCA, right coronary artery; STEMI, ST elevation myocardial infarction.
aOnly post-mortem studies.