Chinese Journal of Ultrasonography 2010;19(9):757-760

doi:10.3760/cma.j.issn.1004-4477.2010.09.008

Relationship between echocardiographic epicardial adipose tissue thickness and coronary artery disease

Changchun LAI ; Yuefeng TONG ; Yongyuan XU ; Zhixing HU ; Yunxiang WANG ; Zhecheng LI ; Weijun Lü ; Zehua LIU

Keywords

Echocardiography; Coronary disease; Epicardial adipose thickness

Country

China

Language

Chinese

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the relationship between echocardiographic epicardial adipose tissue thickness(EAT) and the presence and severity of coronary artery disease(CAD). Methods One hundredand forty-seven patients (101 patients with CAD and 46 patients with normal coronary arteries by diagnostic coronary angiography) were enrolled. EAT thickness was measured using 2-D echocardiographic parasternal long-and short-axis views. EAT thickness measurements were compared with angiographic findings. Results EAT was significantly higher in CAD group comparison to control group [(7.41 ± 1.63)mm vs (4.41±1.60) mm, P ＜0.01 ]. Furthermore, EAT increased with the severity of CAD [(8.53 ± 1.00)mm vs (6.36 ±1.73)mm, P ＜0.01]. Gensini's score significantly correlated with EAT (r = 0.71, P ＜0.01 ). EAT thickness ≥5.35 mm had 87.13% sensitivity and 80.42% specificity (ROC area 0. 89, P = 0.01,95% CI [0.84 - 0.9;]) for predicting CAD. Conclusions EAT thickness, which is easily and non-invasively evaluated by transthoracic echocardiography, can be an adjunctive marker to classical risk factors for the prediction of CAD, it was significantly correlated with the severity of coronary artery disease.