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Identifying Coronary Artery Calcification on Non-gated Computed Tomography Scans
04:40

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Published on: August 28, 2018

Coronary artery calcification score is associated with mortality in Japanese hemodialysis patients

Yasuhiko Shimoyama1, Yoshinari Tsuruta, Toshimitsu Niwa

  • 1Department of Advanced Medicine for Uremia, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, Japan.

Journal of Renal Nutrition : the Official Journal of the Council on Renal Nutrition of the National Kidney Foundation
|December 28, 2011
PubMed

Insights

Coronary artery calcification score (CACS) predicts mortality in hemodialysis patients. Higher CACS is linked to increased all-cause and cardiovascular death risk, independent of age and dialysis duration.

Area of Science:

  • Nephrology
  • Cardiology
  • Radiology

Background:

  • Coronary artery calcification (CAC) is a marker of cardiovascular risk.
  • Higher CAC is associated with increased mortality in patients with coronary artery disease and chronic kidney disease.
  • Hemodialysis (HD) patients have a high burden of cardiovascular disease and mortality.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the correlation between coronary artery calcification score (CACS) and all-cause and cardiovascular mortalities.
  • To assess the prognostic value of CACS in patients undergoing hemodialysis.

Main Methods:

  • Survival analysis of 200 hemodialysis patients over 7 years and 4 months.
  • Coronary artery calcification score (CACS) assessed by multidetector-row computed tomography and stratified into tertiles.
  • Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazard analyses, adjusted for age and HD duration.

Main Results:

  • Patients in the lowest CACS tertile (group 1) had significantly lower all-cause mortality (7.6%) compared to higher tertiles (43.3% and 52.2%).
  • Cardiovascular mortality was also significantly lower in the lowest CACS tertile (3.0%) versus higher tertiles (22.4% and 26.9%).
  • Cox analysis confirmed that lower CACS independently predicted reduced all-cause and cardiovascular mortality.

Conclusions:

  • Coronary artery calcification score is a valuable tool for predicting prognosis in hemodialysis patients.
  • CACS provides prognostic information independently of patient age and duration of hemodialysis treatment.
  • Risk stratification using CACS can aid in managing cardiovascular risk in HD populations.
Abstract

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