Artery highlighter could reveal heart attack risk

"MRI scans could soon be used to show who is at risk of a heart attack. At the moment the only way is to use an invasive probe that can itself trigger cardiac arrest. A major cause of heart attacks is plaques made of immune cells and cholesterol that build up inside the coronary arteries, which feed the heart. If a plaque ruptures, a clot can form, blocking blood flow with potentially catastrophic results. While cameras can be sent into arteries to check the walls for plaques, the probe itself might rupture a plaque. An MRI scan can see inside the body without risk, but doesn't provide enough resolution to image artery walls directly. However, Simon Robinson of Lantheus Medical Imaging in North Billerica, Massachusetts, and his colleagues found a way around this using gadolinium chelate, a substance which is already used to light up blood in MRI scans" - NewScientist