PTX3 and inflammation: Moreover, active small-vessel inflammation (4.10 ng/ml, IQR = 2.16-8.09, n = 21) or active large-vessel inflammation (2.49 ng/ml, IQR = 1.10–7.95, n = 64) identified two subsets of patients with higher PTX3 plasma levels than patients without active vascular inflammation (1.72 ng/ml, IQR = 1.09–3.39, n = 281; p < 0.001 for both tests, Figure 4F).