Serum Biomarker of Plaque Vulnerability and Contrast Ultrasound of Carotid Artery

No serum biomarker has qualified for clinical use until now. However several biomarkers, especially markers of inflammatory or proteolytic activity seem to promising in the identification of vulnerable plaques. Moreover, recent study confirmed that contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging(CEUS) can visualize intraplaque neovascularization and represent the plaque vulnerability. In this study we try to identify indicators through analysis of the relationship between plaque neovascularization seen by CEUS and well known biomarkers such as serum matrix metalloproteinase(MMP)-2, MMP-9, cathepsin family(L,S,V), cystatin C, lipoprotein phospholipase A2, and hs-crp