Correlation Between Plaque Composition and Shear Stress Using Three-Dimensional Reconstructed Histology and Computational Fluid Dynamics of Diseased Human Carotid Arteries

Wall shear stress (WSS) has been shown to play a crucial role in atherosclerotic plaque formation and progression. Moreover, some recent studies suggest that WSS is also involved in determining plaque composition (Cheng et al., 2006) and plaque destabilization in advanced atherosclerosis (Groen et al., 2007). More detailed studies on the relationship between WSS and plaque composition are needed to confirm those relationships.