Correlation of echocardiographic epicardial fat thickness with severity of coronary artery disease-an observational study

Abstract

Objective: Epicardial fat is an indirect contact with coronary arteries. There are some studies about the relationship between this fat and metabolic syndrome and it has considered as an indicator of cardiovascular risk. Several studies have addressed the association between epicardial fat thickness (EFT) and coronary artery disease (CAD) with conflicting results. The aim of our study was to evaluate the hypothesis that echocardiographic EFT thickness could be a marker severe CAD. Methods: Overall, 315 cases who underwent coronary angiography were classified in two groups: Normal and CAD. Measurement of EFT was done with echocardiography. The difference between mean EFT in two groups was analyzed. Califf scoring considered for severity of CAD. Then the relationship between EFT and age, sex, body mass index (BMI), serum lipids and severity of CAD was evaluated. The obtained data were compared by using ANCOVA test, Pearson and Spearman's partial correlation analyses. Results: The EFT in CAD group was significantly higher than in normal group (5.4±1.9 mm vs 4.4±1.8mm, p=0.0001). EFT had a positive relationship with Califf scoring of diseased coronary arteries (r=0.158 p=0.04), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (p=0.04), female gender (p=0.02), BMI (p=0.001) and serum triglyceride levels (p=0.04).

Association between epicardial fat thickness and premature coronary artery disease: A case control study

“…This point was in contrast with the findings of a study undertaken by Mookadam et al However, it seems that age was a noteworthy confounding variable in the aforementioned study (12). We also could not establish a relation between the amount of EFT and extent of coronary involvement, as opposed to several other studies, that have proposed an association between EFT and severity of CAD (4,5). This issue might be explained, based on different baseline characteristics across various study populations and the age, as an important variable affecting the expansion of atherosclerosis, which was also mentioned in Jeong study (4).…”

Relation of Epicardial Fat Thickness and Cardio-Ankle Vascular Index to Complexity of Coronary Artery Disease in Nondiabetic Patients

“…Inflammatory mediators originating from epicardial fat tissue may induce some compositional changes in atherosclerotic plaques, induce atherosclerosis and influence plaque progression and composition. Shemirani et al [26] reported that Califf scores, which reflect the severity of CAD depending on the myocardium at risk, were correlated with EFT. In contrast to that study, we excluded patients with the acute coronary syndrome.…”

The relation of location-specific epicardial adipose tissue thickness and obstructive coronary artery disease: systemic review and meta-analysis of observational studies

“…Echocardiographic EAT measurement is a non-invasive and simple way to measure location-specific EAT at the right ventricular free wall clinically [12-17]. Alternatively, CT (computed tomography) or MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) can also provide the simple but precise 2D measurement in the thickness of EAT in all cardiac segments [11,18,19].…”

“…Current evidence about the association between location-specific EAT thickness at the right ventricular free wall and coronary artery disease (CAD) is still controversial. Several studies using echocardiography have demonstrated a significant relationship between CAD and location-specific EAT thickness measured at right ventricular free wall [13,14,16,17], while some studies using echocardiography or CT failed to observe a significant association [11,12,19,20]. Recent evidence has suggested that there is increasing attention on location-specific EAT thickness at the left AV groove as a potentially new biomarker associated with cardiometabolic risks by using 2D CT or MR measurement [11,19,21,22].…”