Quantification of Epicardial Fat Volume Using Low-dose Cardiac Scan in Patients with Low Calcium Score

Overview

Journal Quant Imaging Med Surg

Specialty Radiology

Date 2023 Apr 17

PMID 37064371

Authors

Jianhua Liang

Yongkai Lin

Liwei Deng

Jieyao Wu

Chunyang Yang

Congcong Lin

Yuanzhang Li

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: We investigated the accuracy of quantifying epicardial adipose tissue volume (EATV) using low-dose cardiac scan (EATV) and evaluated its clinical utility in predicting coronary heart disease in patients with low or mild calcification.

Methods: In total, 204 patients with clinical symptoms of coronary heart disease and coronary artery calcium score (CACS) of <100 AU were enrolled in this retrospective study. After obtaining EATV and EATV measured using computed tomography angiography (EATV), the agreement between the two measurements was evaluated using Pearson correlation coefficient and Bland-Altman analysis. Multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze the utility of EATV in predicting plaque and vulnerable plaque. Receiver operating characteristic curves were constructed.

Results: The mean EATV (101.51±41.57 cm) and EATV (104.57±41.34 cm) of all patients were similar, and the two measurements were strongly correlated (r=0.9596, P0.001). The difference between EATV and EATV was -3.0549, with only 4.9% (10/204) of patients having values outside the 95% confidence interval (CI) range (-26.15 to 20.04; P for agreement =0.0003). Further, a significant agreement was observed between EATV and EATV in 126 patients with plaques, with an estimated difference of -3.354, and 6.35% (8/126) of patients had values outside the 95% CI range (-31.37 to 24.66; P for agreement =0.0095). After adjustment for age and sex, EATV and EATV were significantly associated with plaque (all P values <0.001), and the areas under the curve (AUCs) were 0.662 and 0.670 (P=0.4331), respectively. In contrast, EATV and EATV were not associated with vulnerable plaque (P>0.05), with AUCs of 0.550 and 0.530, respectively (P=0.2157).

Conclusions: The study results indicate that EATV and EATV are equivalent. In addition, both methods provide comparable values for predicting coronary arteriosclerosis in patients with low-to-mild calcification (CACS of <100 AU).

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