Introduction:
Epicardial adipose tissue(EAT), which is thought to be an ectopic adipose tissue, has been paid attention in association with coronary artery disease (CAD).
Hypothesis:
We hypothesized that EAT in anterior interventricular groove (AIG) obtained by echocardiography can be an additional marker over classical risk factors for prediction of CAD.
Methods:
We enrolled 311 patients (mean age 67±11 yrs, 208 men) who underwent coronary angiography between December 2011 and December 2013 at our hospital. We measured EAT thickness on the AIG and right ventricular free wall (EAT-RV) using high-frequency linear probe. Subjects were divided into 2 groups with and without significant coronary stenosis (≧75%) from coronary angiography. The performance of clinical risk factors (including age, male gender, body mass index (BMI), diabetes mellitus, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and smoking) plus various combinations of EAT thickness measurements for predicting CAD was assessed using the area under the curve (AUC) in ROC analysis.
Results:
The EAT-AIG thickness was significantly greater in the CAD group than that in the non-CAD group (8.3±3.0 vs. 6.3±2.5 mm, p<0.001), and there as also significant difference in the EAT-RV between the two groups (5.0±2.1 vs. 4.4±2.3 mm, p=0.009). Adding the EAT-AIG thickness over classical risk factors improved prediction of presence CAD (AUC 0.692 vs. 0.788, p<0.001), while the EAT-RV did not (AUC 0.692 vs. 0.704, p=0.343).
Conclusions:
Echocardiographic EAT-AIG thickness was greater in the CAD group than the non-CAD group. This non-invasive index may have clinical potential as a maker for predicting coronary atherosclerosis.