Epicardial Adipose Tissue Volume in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease or Non-ischaemic Dilated Cardiomyopathy: Evaluation with Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Aim: To compare the amount of epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) or non-ischaemic dilated cardiomyopathy (NIDCM) with that in patients with negative cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR).

Materials And Methods: One hundred and fifty patients (median age 57 years, interquartile range [IQR] 46-66 years) who underwent CMR were evaluated retrospectively: 50 with CAD, 50 with NIDCM, and 50 with negative CMR. For each patient, the EAT mass index (EATMI) to body surface area, end-diastolic volume index (EDVI), end-systolic volume index (ESVI), stroke volume (SV), ejection fraction (EF) for both ventricles, and left ventricle (LV) mass index were estimated. Intra and inter-reader reproducibility was tested in a random subset of 30 patients, 10 for each group. Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis test, Spearman's correlation, and Bland-Altman statistics were used.

Results: The EATMI in CAD patients (median 15.7 g/m, IQR 8.3-25.7) or in NIDCM patients (15.9 g/m, 11.5-18.1) was significantly higher than that in negative CMR patients (9.1 g/m, 6-12; p<0.001 both). No significant difference was found between CAD and NIDCM patients (p=1.000). A correlation between EATMI and LV mass index was found in NIDCM patients (r=0.455, p=0.002). Intra- and inter-reader reproducibility were up to 80% and 72%, respectively.

Conclusion: Patients with NIDCM or CAD exhibited an increased EATMI in comparison to negative CMR patients. CMR can be used to estimate EAT with good reproducibility.