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Epicardial Adipose Tissue Thickness Is Related to Plaque Composition in Coronary Artery Disease

Soon Sang Park1,2, Jisung Jung3, Gary S Mintz4

  • 1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon 16499, Republic of Korea.

Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland)
|November 26, 2022
PubMed

Insights

Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) thickness correlates with higher lipid core burden in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients. Increased EAT may indicate less stable coronary plaques.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Medical Imaging
  • Biomedical Engineering

Background:

  • Limited data exist on epicardial fat and coronary plaque composition.
  • Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) surrounds the heart and may influence coronary artery disease (CAD) progression.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between EAT thickness and lipid core burden in CAD patients.
  • To determine if EAT is a predictor of vulnerable plaque characteristics.

Main Methods:

  • 331 patients undergoing coronary angiography were assessed.
  • Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) thickness was measured using transthoracic echocardiography.
  • Near-infrared spectroscopy and intravascular ultrasound imaging (NIRS-IVUS) quantified plaque lipid core burden (maxLCBI4mm).

Main Results:

  • A positive correlation was found between EAT thickness and maxLCBI4mm.
  • The thick EAT group exhibited significantly higher maxLCBI4mm compared to the thin EAT group (437 vs. 293, p < 0.001).
  • EAT thickness independently predicted a maxLCBI4mm ≥ 400, along with other clinical factors.

Conclusions:

  • Epicardial adipose tissue thickness is associated with increased lipid core burden in CAD patients.
  • These findings suggest EAT may play a role in the stability of coronary artery plaques.
  • EAT thickness may serve as a potential imaging biomarker for plaque vulnerability.

Keywords:
epicardial adipose tissuelipid core burden indexlipid core plaquenear-infrared spectroscopy

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