1. Coronary atherosclerotic plaque phenotype and physiopathologic mechanisms: Is there an influence of sex? Insights from intracoronary imaging.
- Author
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Gurgoglione FL, Solinas E, Pfleiderer B, Vezzani A, and Niccoli G
- Subjects
- Male, Humans, Female, Risk Factors, Sex Factors, Tomography, Optical Coherence methods, Coronary Angiography, Phenotype, Coronary Vessels diagnostic imaging, Coronary Vessels pathology, Plaque, Atherosclerotic pathology, Coronary Artery Disease diagnostic imaging, Coronary Artery Disease pathology
- Abstract
Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of disability and death in both women and men; considerable differences in clinical presentation, natural history and prognosis are reported between sexes. Different pathophysiological mechanisms play a major role, including sex-related and gender-related features or a combination of both. Reports from intracoronary imaging studies pointed towards morphological plaque features, which seemed to differ between men and women, albeit results reported so far were not conclusive. The purpose of this review is to shed light on differences in the pathophysiology underlying CAD in women vs men including the description of coronary plaque phenotype and mechanisms of plaque instability, as assessed by intracoronary imaging. We will also discuss potential clinical implications with the aim to move towards a sex and gender-based personalized approach in CAD patients., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2023
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