Relationship between epicardial adipose tissue thickness and coronary artery plaque vulnerability evaluated by intravascular ultrasound in middle-aged and elderly patient with coronary heart disease / 中华老年医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the association between epicardial adipose thickness(EAT)and coronary artery plaque vulnerability evaluated by intravascular ultrasound(IVUS)in patients with coronary heart disease.Methods A retrospective case-control study was conducted.A total of 261 patients who were diagnosed with coronary heart disease via coronary angiography from August 2014 to March 2017 were enrolled in this study.Patients were divided into an acute coronary syndrome(ACS)group(n=92)and a stable angina pectoris(SAP)group(n=169).EAT and coronary artery plaque vulnerability evaluated by IVUS were compared between the two groups.The correlation between EAT and coronary artery plaque vulnerability was analyzed.Results EAT was greater in the ACS group than in the SAP group(5.4 ± 1.1)mm vs.(2.9±0.7) mm,t =12.664,P＜0.01).The plaque burden,the rates of soft plaque detection and the rates of spotty calcification detection were higher in the ACS group than in the SAP group(67.8±8.0)％ vs.(57.4 ± 10.4) ％,35.9％ or 33/92 vs.18.9％ or 32/169,0.4 ％ or 28/92 vs.17.8％ or 30/169,all P ＜0.05),while there was no significant difference in luminal area between the two groups(P =0.772).The proportion of positive remodeling was higher in the ACS group than in the SAP group(35.9％ or 33/92 vs.8.3％ or 14/169,P＜0.01).Linear regression analysis showed that EAT was correlated with plaque burden(r =0.592,P ＜0.01),lumen area(r =-0.273,P ＜0.01) and reconstruction index(r =0.447,P ＜0.01).Conclusions Epicardial adipose thickness is correlated to coronary artery plaque vulnerability evaluated by IVUS.