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Aims: There is limited in vivo evidence regarding the temporal evolution of non-culprit coronary plaque morphology. We aimed to evaluate changes in non-culprit plaque morphology over time by optical coherence tomography (OCT)., Methods and Results: Seventy-two (72) patients with 257 non-culprit segments with serial OCT studies were analysed. Non-culprit 5 mm-long coronary segments from the same imaged region were matched between baseline and follow-up. OCT plaque characterisation including automated attenuation analysis was performed, and changes over a median follow-up of 6.2 months were evaluated. On segment level, lumen area decreased from baseline to follow-up, whereas fibrous cap thickness increased. Similarly, plaque attenuation indices at follow-up were significantly decreased. Minimal cap thickness per patient did not change. In 68.5% of segments, plaque morphology did not change. Favourable change was observed in 18.4% of segments and unfavourable in 12.9%. There were no robust clinical predictors of change in plaque morphology. Attenuation analysis supported the qualitative characterisation, showing significantly different attenuation between different plaque types., Conclusions: In non-culprit coronary segments of patients with coronary artery disease under standard medical therapy, segment-level but not patient-level minimum fibrous cap thickness increases over time, with observations of both favourable and unfavourable changes in individual segments.

Objectives: The acute expansion of bioresorbable vascular scaffolds (BRS) and drug-eluting stents (DES) in lesions with different extent of calcification was compared by Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT)., Background: The acute mechanical performance of polymeric BRS in calcified lesions is poorly understood., Methods: Acute device performance in lesions treated with either BRS(N = 50) or DES (N = 50) was compared using Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT). According to angiographic degree of calcification the lesions were divided in three groups: no/mild, moderate and heavy calcification. Device performance was assessed with the following parameters by OCT: mean scaffold area, eccentricity index (EI), symmetry index (SI) and percentage incomplete strut apposition (ISA)., Results: One hundred lesions from 85 patients (BRS/DES; 37/48) were analyzed. Scaffold area and SI were similar between BRS and DES groups in the three calcification subgroups. Compared to DES, EI in BRS was marginally lower in the no/mild calcification group (0.86 ± 0.03 versus 0.88 ± 0.03, p = 0.018) but was similar in the moderate and heavy calcification groups. Compared to DES, percentage ISA struts in BRS was similar in the no/mild calcification group and was significantly lower in the moderate and heavy calcification groups (2.96 ± 2.36 versus 6.78 ± 4.61%, p = 0.002 and 1.82 ± 2.40 versus 8.89 ± 8.25%, p = 0.025 respectively)., Conclusions: With adequate lesion preparation, implantation of BRS in a population reflective of clinical practice, resulted in a similar luminal gain compared to DES as measured by OCT, regardless of the degree of angiographic calcification, while acute malapposition is lower with BRS in moderately and heavily calcified lesions. The clinical significance of our findings warrants further evaluation in future studies. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., (© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)