Background: While arterial wall imaging has been used to characterize progression of atherosclerosis, there remain limitations to this approach.
Scope: A selective overview of emerging modalities to image the artery wall and highlight how they may be used to evaluate emerging anti-atherosclerotic agents.
Findings: Ongoing developments appear to enable assessment of composition and molecular properties of plaque in addition to quantitation of burden. Non-invasiveness and correlation with clinical outcome remains a challenge.
Conclusion: New developments in imaging should enhance the ability to provide early characterization of the potential therapeutic efficacy of experimental agents.