<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><bold>Background:</bold> Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) has been recently identified as a major player in the development of the atherosclerotic process. This study aimed to investigate the role of EAT as a marker associated with a higher vulnerability of atheromatous coronary plaques in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) as compared to patients with stable angina.<bold>Material and methods:</bold> This analysis enrolled a total of 89 patients, 47 with stable angina (SA) and 42 with AMI, who underwent echocardiographic investigations and epicardial fat measurement in 2D-parasternal long axis view. The study lot was divided as follows: Group 1 included patients with prior AMI, and Group 2 included patients with SA.<bold>Results:</bold> There were no significant differences between the two groups regarding cardiovascular risk factors, excepting smoking status, which was recorded more frequently in Group 1 as compared to Group 2 (36.17% vs. 11.63%, p = 0.02). The mean epicardial fat diameter was 9.12 ± 2.28 mm (95% CI: 8.45–9.79 mm) in Group 1 and 6.30 ± 2.03 mm (95% CI: 5.675–6.93 mm) in Group 2, the difference being highly significant statistically (p &lt;0.0001). The mean value of left ventricular ejection fraction was significantly lower in patients with AMI (Group 1 – 47.60% ± 7.96 vs. Group 2 – 51.23% ± 9.05, p = 0.04). EAT thickness values showed a weak but significant positive correlation with the level of total cholesterol (r = −0.22, p = 0.03) and with the value of end-systolic left ventricle diameter (r = 0.33, = 0.001).<bold>Conclusions:</bold> The increased thickness of EAT was associated with other serum- or image-based biomarkers of disease severity, such as the left ventricular ejection fraction, end-systolic diameter of the left ventricle, and total cholesterol. Our results indicate that EAT is significantly higher in patients with acute coronary syndrome, proving that EAT could serve as a marker of vulnerability in cardiovascular diseases.</abstract>

Background: Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) has been recently identified as a major player in the development of the atherosclerotic process. This study aimed to investigate the role of EAT as a marker associated with a higher vulnerability of atheromatous coronary plaques in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) as compared to patients with stable angina.Material and methods: This analysis enrolled a total of 89 patients, 47 with stable angina (SA) and 42 with AMI, who underwent echocardiographic investigations and epicardial fat measurement in 2D-parasternal long axis view. The study lot was divided as follows: Group 1 included patients with prior AMI, and Group 2 included patients with SA.Results: There were no significant differences between the two groups regarding cardiovascular risk factors, excepting smoking status, which was recorded more frequently in Group 1 as compared to Group 2 (36.17% vs. 11.63%, p = 0.02). The mean epicardial fat diameter was 9.12 ± 2.28 mm (95% CI: 8.45–9.79 mm) in Group 1 and 6.30 ± 2.03 mm (95% CI: 5.675–6.93 mm) in Group 2, the difference being highly significant statistically (p <0.0001). The mean value of left ventricular ejection fraction was significantly lower in patients with AMI (Group 1 – 47.60% ± 7.96 vs. Group 2 – 51.23% ± 9.05, p = 0.04). EAT thickness values showed a weak but significant positive correlation with the level of total cholesterol (r = −0.22, p = 0.03) and with the value of end-systolic left ventricle diameter (r = 0.33, = 0.001).Conclusions: The increased thickness of EAT was associated with other serum- or image-based biomarkers of disease severity, such as the left ventricular ejection fraction, end-systolic diameter of the left ventricle, and total cholesterol. Our results indicate that EAT is significantly higher in patients with acute coronary syndrome, proving that EAT could serve as a marker of vulnerability in cardiovascular diseases.

Epicardial Adipose Tissue Role as a Marker of Higher Vulnerability in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease

Department of Biostatistics and Informatics

Biostatistics Center of Advanced Research in Multimodal Cardiac Imaging, Cardio Med Medical Center

Journal of Interdisciplinary Medicine

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Background: Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) has been recently identified as a major player in the development of the atherosclerotic process. This study aimed...

Epicardial Adipose Tissue Role as a Marker of Higher Vulnerability in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease

Publicado en línea: 19 dic 2018

Páginas: 77 - 83

Recibido: 14 sept 2017

Aceptado: 15 mar 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jim-2018-0018

Palabras clave
atheromatous plaque, epicardial fat, vulnerability marker, acute coronary syndrome

© 2018 Tiberiu Nyulas et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Epicardial Adipose Tissue Role as a Marker of Higher Vulnerability in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease

Publicado en línea: 19 dic 2018

Páginas: 77 - 83

Recibido: 14 sept 2017

Aceptado: 15 mar 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jim-2018-0018

Palabras claveatheromatous plaque, epicardial fat, vulnerability marker, acute coronary syndrome

© 2018 Tiberiu Nyulas et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Palabras clave
atheromatous plaque, epicardial fat, vulnerability marker, acute coronary syndrome