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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Sep 1.
Published in final edited form as: JACC Cardiovasc Imaging. 2012 Sep;5(9):941–955. doi: 10.1016/j.jcmg.2012.07.007

Figure 2. Representative Lesion Morphologies for Progressive Human Coronary Atherosclerosis.

Figure 2

(A) The earliest atherosclerotic lesion, pathological intimal thickening, highlighted by lipid pools (LP) in the deep intima (Movat pentachrome stain) with CD68+ macrophages near the luminal surface. (B) Fibroatheroma with early necrosis, showing the conversion of a lipid pool into a necrotic core; note the invasion of the lipid pool by macrophages. (C) A late core fibroatheroma, distinguished by its lytic environment and increase in size. (D) An advanced thin-cap fibroatheroma (rupture-prone lesion), characterized by a relatively large necrotic core and thin fibrous cap infiltrated by macrophages. NC = necrotic core. Adapted, with permission, from Virmani R, Burke AP, Farb A, Gold HK, Finn AV, Kolodgie FD. Plaque rupture. In: Virmani R, Narula J, Leon M, Willerson J, editors. The Vulnerable Atherosclerotic Plaque: Strategies for Diagnosis and Management. Malden, MA: Blackwell Futura, 2007:37–59.