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Identifying Coronary Artery Calcification on Non-gated Computed Tomography Scans
Published on: August 28, 2018
Incidental Coronary Arterial Calcification for Cardiovascular Risk Assessment in Men With Prostate Cancer Undergoing
Preet A Shaikh1, Avira Som2, Elena Deych1
1Cardiovascular Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO.
Background:
Cardiovascular (CV) disease is common among men with prostate cancer and the leading cause of death in this population. There is a need for CV risk assessment tools that can be easily implemented in the prostate cancer treatment setting.
Methods:
Consecutive patients who underwent positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) for recurrent prostate cancer at a single institution from 2012 to 2017 were identified retrospectively. Clinical data and coronary calcification on nongated CT imaging were obtained. The primary outcome was major adverse CV event (MACE; myocardial infarction, coronary or peripheral revascularization, stroke, heart failure hospitalization, or all-cause mortality) occurring within 5 years of PET/CT.
Results:
Among 354 patients included in the study, there were 98 MACE events that occurred in 74 patients (21%). All-cause mortality was the most common MACE event (35%), followed by coronary revascularization/myocardial infarction (26%) and stroke (19%). Coronary calcification was predictive of MACE (HR = 1.9, 95% CI: 1.1-3.4, P = .03) using adjusted Kaplan-Meier analysis. As a comparator, the Framingham risk score was calculated for 198 patients (56%) with complete clinical and laboratory data available. In this subgroup, high baseline Framingham risk (corresponding to 10-year risk of CV disease > 20%) was not predictive of MACE.
Conclusions:
MACE was common (21%) in men with recurrent prostate cancer undergoing PET/CT over 5 years of follow-up. Incidental coronary calcification on PET/CT was associated with increased risk of MACE and may have utility as a CV risk predictor that is feasible to implement among all prostate cancer providers.
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