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Methods and devices are disclosed for detecting vulnerable atherOSclerotic plaque, or plaque at risk of reducing blood flow in a vessel, by identifying a region of elevated tem perature along a living vessel wall. The disclosure that human atherOSclerotic plaque with measurable temperature heterogeneity has the morphological characteristics of plaque that is likely to ulcerate provides a new and Sensitive technique for detecting and treating these dangerous plaques before myocardial infarction and its consequences occur. The disclosed methods are advantageous over conventional plaque detection techniques because they are capable of differentiating between those plaques that are at great risk of rupture, fissure, or ulceration, and consequent thrombosis and occlusion of the artery, and those that are not presently at risk. Infrared heat-Sensing catheters useful for identifying potentially fatal arterial plaques in …