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Identifying Coronary Artery Calcification on Non-gated Computed Tomography Scans
Published on: August 28, 2018
[Relationship between coronary risk calculation and distribution of the coronary artery lesions and risk factors]
Cemal Sağ1, Mustafa Ozkan, Mehmet Uzun
1Gülhane Askeri Tip Akademisi, Kardiyoloji Anabilim Dali, Ankara, Türkiye. esag@gata.edu.tr.
Insights
Coronary artery disease risk scores do not predict vessel involvement. However, cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and height are linked to the number of diseased coronary vessels.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology and Cardiovascular Diseases
- Medical Diagnostics and Risk Assessment
Background:
- Increasing incidence of coronary artery disease (CAD) necessitates early diagnosis and treatment.
- Coronary risk score calculation is a key approach for assessing CAD risk.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between coronary risk scores and the extent of coronary vessel involvement in CAD.
- To identify factors influencing the number of diseased vessels in patients with proven CAD.
Main Methods:
- Study included 49 patients with angiographically proven coronary disease (mean age 63±8 years, 36 males).
- Disease severity was quantified by the number of vessels with >50% stenosis.
- Analysis included correlations between risk factors, total/10-year risk scores, and vessel involvement.
Main Results:
- Age, gender, uric acid, and smoking did not significantly correlate with diseased vessel distribution.
- Total coronary risk score and 10-year coronary risk showed no significant correlation with vessel involvement.
- Lower high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol levels were significantly associated with multiple vessel disease (p=0.004).
- Low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol scores decreased with an increased number of involved vessels (p=0.035, p=0.001).
- Multivariate analysis indicated blood pressure score and HDL-cholesterol score were directly related, while LDL-cholesterol score was inversely related to vessel involvement.
- Height showed a significant correlation with vessel involvement (p=0.024).
Conclusions:
- LDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, diastolic blood pressure, and height significantly influence the number of involved coronary vessels.
- Total coronary risk scores do not correlate with the severity or distribution of coronary artery disease.
Objectives:
Early diagnosis and treatment of coronary artery disease is gaining more importance because of its increasing incidence. The calculation of coronary risk score is one of the most important approaches. The aim of the study is to find out the relation between coronary risk score and vessel distribution of the coronary heart disease.
Methods:
The study included 49 patients (mean age = 63+/-8 years; 36 males) whose coronary disease was proven by coronary angiography. The severity of the disease is established according to the number of the vessels with >50% stenosis.
Results:
According to the results; age (p=0.548), gender (p=0.116), uric acid (p=0.091), and smoking (p=0.718) are not effective on diseased vessel distribution. Similarly, total coronary risk score and vessel involvement was not correlated (p=0.115). The ten year coronary risk and vessel involvement was not in good correlation, too (p=0.523). Low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol levels were lower in patients with multiple vessel disease but the statistical significance was borderline (p=0.051). High-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol levels were lower in multiple vessel disease (p=0.004). Both LDL-cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol scores were decreasing with increased number of involved vessels (p=0.035, p=0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that blood pressure score, and HDL cholesterol score were directly related and LDL-score were inversely related to the number of the involved vessels. The height and vessel involvement was also in good correlation (p=0.024).
Conclusion:
The LDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, diastolic blood pressure and height are affective on the number of the involved vessels. The total coronary risk scores are not correlated with the severity and distribution of the disease.
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