Gender Differences of Plaque Characteristics in Elderly Patients with Stable Angina Pectoris : An Intravascular Ultrasonic Radiofrequency Data Analysis

Abstract EN

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relation between gender and plaque characteristics assessed by virtual histology-intravascular ultrasound (VH-IVUS) in patients with stable angina pectoris.

Preinterventional VH-IVUS image was available for analysis in 88 men and 60 women patients.

Women had significantly smaller vessel volume (12.7 ± 3.9 versus 14.5 ± 4.2 mm3/mm, P=.01) and smaller plaque volume (8.4 ± 3.5 versus 9.7 ± 3.5 mm3/mm, P=.04).

However, these differences were no longer significant when corrected for body surface area (BSA).

In VH-IVUS analysis, women had significantly higher dense calcium when corrected for BSA in the culprit lesion (volume: 0.32 ± 0.26 versus 0.44 ± 0.40 mm3/mm/BSA, P=.03; proportion: 8.2 ± 6.1 versus 11.2 ± 7.6%, P=.009).

VH-IVUS analysis of plaque components in elderly patients with stable angina showed that women had higher calcium contents compared with men.