Table 1.

Various imaging modalities that can be used for assessment of HDL-C–raising drugs

	Imaging modality	Outcome parameter	Reproducibility(ICC)	Predictive value of future CVD	Correlation with HDL-C	HDL-C–raising drugs investigated
Vessel wall thickening	US	IMT	>0.90 [3]	HR 1.15 per 0.10 mm IMT difference [4]	Yes [5–7]	Niacin [8, 9, 10••, 11, 12], torcetrapib [13]
Plaque vulnerability	MRI	MWA or NWI	>0.95 [17]	Under investigation [23]	Yes [24•]	Niacin [27], dalcetrapib
	MRI	AHA plaque type, LRNC, IPH, calcification	>0.90 [18]	HR 5–17 for presence of IPH or plaque rupture [19, 20, 21, 22•]	No [25, 26]	Niacin [28]
Endothelial function	US	FMD (%)	>0.85 [29]	HR 0.84–0.91 per SD of FMD [30, 31••]	Yes [30, 32]	Niacin [33, 34], rHDL [35, 36], dalcetrapib [37]
Vessel wall inflammation	FDG-PET	SUV or TBR	>0.90 [46]	Under investigation [23]	Yes [44, 45]	Dalcetrapib

AHA—American Heart Association; CVD—cardiovascular disease; FDG-PET—18F-fluordeoxyglucose positron emission tomography; FMD—flow-mediated vasodilatation; HDL-C—high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; HR—hazard ratio; ICC— intraclass correlation coefficient; IMT—intima-media thickness; IPH—intraplaque hemorrhage; LRNC—lipid-rich necrotic core; MWA—mean wall area; NWI—normalized wall index; rHDL—reconstituted high-density lipoprotein; SUV—standard uptake value; TBR—target-to-background ratio; US—ultrasound.