Impact of COVID-19 Infection on Regional Periocoronary Inflammation: An Angio-CT Study of Epicardial Fat Attenuation
Article Category: Original Article
Publicado en línea: 30 jun 2023
Páginas: 47 - 53
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/rjc-2023-0011
Palabras clave
© 2023 Botond Mátyás et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Background
It is currently well-known that inflammation plays an essential role in all phases of atherosclerosis. Recent CT studies showed that atherosclerotic plaques found in the right coronary arteries (RCA) display a greater number of features that increase their susceptibility to destabilization compared to plaques found in left coronary arteries (LCA). COVID-19’s impact on regional coronary inflammation is not well understood, despite extensive research on its effects on cardiovascular diseases.
Objectives
This study aimed to evaluate the regional differences between local inflammation at the level of left versus right coronary circulation in patients who had CCTA examinations for chest pain in the early stages after COVID-19 infection.
Methods
In total, 172 patients with chest pain and CCTA data available were included in the study, divided into two groups: Group 1 (n = 80) with recent COVID-19 infection, and Group 2 (n = 92) with no known COVID infection. Attenuation of epicardial fat density was calculated in all patients using the FAI technology available from Caristo (Oxford, UK), and the associated FAI score and CaRi Heart® score of related cardiovascular risk were calculated.
Results
CaRi Heart® Risk (
Conclusions
COVID-19 infection is associated with a higher risk of inflammation in the pericoronary epicardial fat. In post- COVID-19 patients, this inflammation seems to be more pronounced at the level of the RCA, which indicates a potential role of local hemorheological factors in the complex process of inflammation-mediated plaque vulnerabilization after COVID.