Just last month, researchers led by Armin Arbab-Zadeh of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore published a comprehensive review of the biology of heart attacks in the journal Circulation, which said that vulnerable plaques often rupture without causing a heart attack and that a "perfect storm" of other conditions is required before one occurs.

WSJ: Predicting Who Will Have Heart Attacks

These high leukotriene levels, DeCode researchers believe, inflame artery walls, increasing the odds that arterial plaques will suddenly rupture and cause heart attacks or strokes.

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New catheter-based imagers aim to improve IVUS by letting doctors distinguish stable plaque, safely ensconced in scar tissue, from the inflamed plaque that is more likely to rupture and trigger a heart attack.

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This meant that they were less likely to rupture and to trigger a heart attack or stroke.

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"If you have plaque in your arteries, this is a perfect time for them to rupture and lead to a heart attack, " Steinbaum says.

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Researchers now believe that up to 85% of heart attacks occur when arterial plaques suddenly rupture, spilling toxic substances and triggering a massive clot.

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