Impact of combined plaque structural stress and wall shear stress on coronary plaque progression, regression, and changes in composition

Aims The focal distribution of atherosclerotic plaques suggests that local biomechanical factors may influence plaque development. Methods and results We studied 40 patients at baseline and over 12 months by virtual-histology intravascular ultrasound and bi-plane coronary angiography. We calculated plaque structural stress (PSS), defined as the mean of the maximum principal stress at the peri-luminal region, and wall shear stress (WSS), defined...