Atherosclerotic coronary artery disease is a major cause of mortality in much of the
industrialized world. Acute coronary syndromes of unstable angina, acute myocardial
infarction, and ischemic sudden death, the most lethal clinical manifestations of coronary
atherosclerosis, result from rupture or disruption of the atherosclerotic plaque with
superimposed thrombus formation. 36, 41, 46, 47* In this article, the potential mechanisms
contrib-uting to the rupture of the atherosclerotic plaque with consequent thrombosis are …