. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Feb 1.

Published in final edited form as: Ann Biomed Eng. 2013 Jul 11;42(2):415–431. doi: 10.1007/s10439-013-0855-x

Table 3.

Imaging technologies used to identify and characterize the morphology and composition of atheromas.

Technology	Resolution	2D / 3D	In vivo /Ex vivo	Clinical / Research	Comment

MRI	~400 μm	3D	In vivo	Clinical	Diagnosis of coronary stenosis and macrocalcifications - Non invasive but expensive - Cannot resolve plaque morphology
CTA	~250 μm	3D	In vivo	Clinical	Diagnosis of stenosis and calcifications - Non invasive, significant dose of ionizing radiation - Cannot resolve plaque morphology
IVUS	~50 μm	3D	In vivo	Clinical	Provides plaque morphology, tissue composition and elastography
OCT	~15 μm	3D	In vivo	Clinical	Provides plaque morphology and tissue composition
MI	~5 μm	2D / 3D	Ex vivo	Research	Assessment of inflammation and/or cells expressing specific antigens
μCT	~1 μm	3D	Ex vivo	Research	Incoherent X-ray light, relatively large field of view

Abbreviations: Computed tomography angiography (CTA), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), intra vascular ultrasound (IVUS), optical coherence tomography (OCT), molecular imaging (MI), bioluminescence (BL), micro-computed tomography (μCT).