Association Between Abdominal Visceral Artery Calcification and All-Cause Mortality-A Computerized Tomography...

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Medicine
• Radiology
• Vascular Biology

Background:

• Arterial calcification predicts mortality across various arterial beds.
• The link between abdominal visceral artery calcification and mortality is not well understood.
• Peripheral artery disease (PAD) patients often have widespread atherosclerosis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between abdominal visceral artery calcification (AVAC) and all-cause mortality.
• To introduce and validate a novel scoring system for AVAC.
• To explore AVAC as a mortality predictor in PAD patients.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of contrast-enhanced CT scans from PAD patients.
• Calculation of a novel abdominal visceral arteries calcium (AVAC) score using a modified Agatston method.
• Assessment of all-cause mortality as the primary outcome over a median follow-up of 72 months.

Main Results:

• Cumulative AVAC score and hypertension were significantly associated with all-cause mortality (P < .05).
• Out of 89 analyzed patients, 35 (39%) died during the follow-up period.
• The study identified a significant association between cumulative AVAC and mortality.

Conclusions:

• Cumulative visceral abdominal artery calcification is a significant predictor of all-cause mortality in patients with PAD.
• Further research is needed to confirm these findings in larger cohorts and other patient groups.
• AVAC may represent a novel risk stratification tool for cardiovascular outcomes.