易损斑块是一种不稳定、易破裂、具有血栓形成倾向的动脉血管病变。它具有特征性的薄弱纤维帽与较大脂质核心，是引发一系列不良心血管事件、威胁患者生命的罪犯斑块。新兴数据表明，不良心血管事件的发生主要由传统血管造影术无法检出的不稳定斑块破裂引起。因此，敏感、特异地识别易损斑块对于降低心血管病患者急性心血管事件发生率、改善患者治疗及预后具有重要意义。近年来，各类侵入性及非侵入性影像学诊断方法的发展使诊断易损斑块成为了可能。综述阐述了易损斑块的基本概念及病理特点，总结了近年来各类影像学诊断方法的临床应用价值及其主要的局限性和前景。“,”“Vulnerable plaque” is defined as a vascular lesion which is unstable and highly thrombogenic .It has the characteristic of thin fibrous cap and a large lipid-rich core,which may result in life-threatening major adverse cardiovascular events ( MACE) .Emerging data suggest that MACE mainly attributable to the rupture of vulnerable plaques that are usually not visible by conventional angiography .There-fore,sensitive and specific identification of vulnerable plaque for reducing the prevalence of MACE ,improving treatment and prognosis in pa-tients with cardiovascular disorders is of great significance .Recently,several invasive and non-invasive technologies have been developed to diagnose vulnerable plaques .This review describes the basic definition of vulnerable plaque together with its pathological features ,summarizes the clinical-application values ,major limitations and future prospects of various imaging methods respectively .