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Updated: Oct 11, 2025

Identifying Coronary Artery Calcification on Non-gated Computed Tomography Scans
Published on: August 28, 2018
Association between low skeletal muscle mass and subclinical coronary atherosclerosis in asymptomatic individuals
S-L Miao1, T-T Lin1, F-F Chen2
1Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China.
Aim:
To investigate the associations of skeletal muscle area and density with coronary atherosclerotic plaques and significant stenosis in asymptomatic adults.
Materials And Methods:
A total of 243 consecutive subjects who had voluntarily undergone abdominal unenhanced computed tomography (CT) and coronary CT angiography (CCTA) as part of a general health examination were investigated retrospectively. Skeletal muscle area index (SMI) and skeletal muscle density (SMD) was assessed using CT. Coronary atherosclerotic plaques and stenosis on CCTA were evaluated. The associations of low SMI and low SMD with coronary atherosclerotic plaques and significant stenosis were determined by logistic regression analysis.
Results:
After adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors, there were significant associations of low SMI or low SMD with atherosclerotic plaque, total significant stenosis, and significant stenosis caused by calcified or mixed plaques (for all p<0.05). In addition, multivariate regression analysis also showed that low SMI was independently associated with calcified plaque (p=0.038) and non-calcified plaque (p=0.006), and individuals with low SMD were more likely to have mixed plaque (p=0.001).
Conclusion:
Assessment of the skeletal muscle on CT help to identify asymptomatic adults at risk for coronary atherosclerosis.
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