J Lipid Atheroscler.  2014 Jun;3(1):29-37. 10.12997/jla.2014.3.1.29.

Abdominal and Pericardial Fat in Patients with and without Coronary Artery Disease: Computed Tomography Study

• Sohn GH
• Kim DW
• Kim SM
• Lee SY
• Bae JW
• Hwang KK
• Kim SM
• Choe YH
• Park JE

• KMID: 2198358
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.12997/jla.2014.3.1.29

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
There has been a limited investigation looking into the correlation between pericardial fat and abdominal fat with coronary artery disease (CAD) as measured by coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA). We proposed that the volume of pericardial fat is larger in patients with CAD than in patients without CAD, and sought to determine which abdominal adiposity index best correlated with pericardial fat volume.
METHODS
Participants were examined using CCTA between October 2007 and January 2008. All participants had no previous history of CAD. Pericardial adipose tissue (PAT) volume, abdominal total adipose tissue volume, abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue volume, and abdominal visceral adipose tissue (AVAT) volume were measured using CCTA.
RESULTS
Fifty patients (26.5%) demonstrated CAD, and 139 patients did not demonstrate CAD by CCTA. PAT volume in patients with CAD was larger than that of patients without CAD (173.2+/-64.2 cm3 vs. 147.6+/-50.4 cm3, p<0.01). However, indices of abdominal adiposity were not significantly different between the two groups. Using multivariable analysis, independent predictors of CAD were PAT volume (odds ratio [OR] 1.01, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.00-1.02, p=0.04), coronary artery calcium score (OR 1.01, 95% CI 1.00-1.01, p<0.01), and typical chest pain (OR 4.88, 95% CI 1.47-16.21, p=0.01). AVAT volume showed a linear correlation with PAT volume.
CONCLUSION
PAT volume was an independent predictor of CAD as measured by CCTA. PAT volume was also well correlated with the AVAT volume among the indices of abdominal adiposity.

Keyword

Pericardial adipose tissue; Abdominal visceral adipose tissue; Abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue; Computed tomography; Coronary artery disease

MeSH Terms

Abdominal Fat
Adipose Tissue
Adiposity
Angiography
Calcium
Chest Pain
Coronary Artery Disease*
Coronary Vessels
Humans
Intra-Abdominal Fat
Subcutaneous Fat, Abdominal
Calcium

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Measurement of pericardial fat. Manual tracing of a single region of interest at the pericardium was performed. Pericardial adipose tissue represented by green region.

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  Fig. 2 Measurement of abdominal fat. Noncontrast computed tomography was used for abdominal fat quantification. Red and blue regions represent abdominal subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue, respectively.

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