The impact of epicardial fat volume on coronary plaque vulnerability: insight from optical coherence tomography analysis

• Published in: European heart journal cardiovascular imaging 2012-05, Vol.13 (5), p.408-415
• Main Authors: Ito, Tsuyoshi, Nasu, Kenya, Terashima, Mitsuyasu, Ehara, Mariko, Kinoshita, Yoshihisa, Ito, Tatsuya, Kimura, Masashi, Tanaka, Nobuyoshi, Habara, Maoto, Tsuchikane, Etsuo, Suzuki, Takahiko
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adiposity; Aged; Analysis of Variance; Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary - instrumentation; Confidence Intervals; Coronary Angiography - instrumentation; Coronary Artery Bypass - instrumentation; Coronary Artery Disease - diagnosis; Coronary Artery Disease - pathology; Coronary Vessels - pathology; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Multidetector Computed Tomography - instrumentation; Multivariate Analysis; Odds Ratio; Pericardium - pathology; Predictive Value of Tests; Risk Assessment; Statistics as Topic; Tomography, Optical Coherence - instrumentation
• ISSN: 2047-2404; 2047-2412
• DOI: 10.1093/ehjci/jes022

Epicardial fat volume (EFV) has been implicated in coronary artery disease. Relationship between EFV and coronary plaque vulnerability has not been elucidated. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of EFV with coronary plaque vulnerability by using optical coherence tomography (OCT). We enrolled 117 patients who underwent multislice computed tomography (MSCT) and OCT. EFV was quantified on MSCT. Patients were categorized according to tertiles of EFV: low tertile, EFV < 104.1 cm(3); mid-tertile, 104.1 cm(3)≤ EFV ≤ 130.7 cm(3); high tertile, EFV > 130.7 cm(3). A total of 180 vessels and 221 plaques were assessed with OCT to detect a thin-capped fibroatheroma (TCFA). TCFA was defined as a plaque with necrotic lipid pools ≥ 2 quadrants and minimum fibrous cap thickness measuring 2 quadrants; P= 0.01) and inversely correlated with a minimum fibrous cap thickness of the patients (r = -0.400, P