Aim To analyze characteristics of the coronary atherosclerotic plaques in patients with acute coronary syndrome（ACS） and stable angina（SA） through the virtual histology-intravascular ultrasound, and study the correlation between the coronary atherosclerotic plaques and serum Galectin-3. Methods 257 patients with coronary heart disease（SA group（n85）, ACS group（n172），the control group（n120） were examined and diagnosed as CHD by coronary angiography and patients with CHD will be examined by intravascular ultrasound further to record the gray-scale and virtual histology image data, test the serum Galectin-3 level and hypersensitive C-reactive protein level, analyze the correlation between these results and the coronary atherosclerotic plaques characteristics. Results There were no obvious diversity in general information among three groups. The results of VH-IVUS show: the vascular remodeling index, the proportion of necrotic core and plaque eccentricity index in ACS group were higher in the SA group. The diversity was statistically significant（P<0.05）. Galectin-3 in ACS group is higher obviously than Galectin-3 in the SA group and control group, the diversity was statistically significant（P<0.05）. There was a positive correlation between Galectin-3 and the proportion of necrotic core plaque remodeling index and plaque eccentricity index in ACS group（r0.632，P0.017；r0.640，P0.020；r0.615，P0.021）. Conclusion （1） Coronary atherosclerotic plaques in ACS are mostly made of necrotic core, partial plaques. Coronary atherosclerotic plaques in SA are mostly made of fibrous tissue or fibro-fatty tissue. （2） There was a obviously positive correlation between Galectin-3 and the proportion of necrotic core, plaque remodeling index and plaque eccentricity index in ACS group.