Background: Peri-coronary adipose tissue mean attenuation (PCATMA) is a new potential coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) biomarker for coronary inflammation. Inflammation plays an important role in the plaque development of the coronary artery. The relationship between peri-coronary adipose tissue mean attenuation(PCATMA) and coronary inflammation has been previously confirmed by pathology and CCTA methods in translational research [1]. Several studies revealed the relationship between coronary artery disease and PCATMA and the usability of PCATMA for the prediction of cardiovascular risk [2-5] based on CCTA obtained at...

In this retrospective study, PCATMAwas measured on CCTA in 192 patients suspected of coronary artery disease, but without coronary plaque on CCTA, scanned between 2015 to 2017 at a single academic center, using a third-generation dual-source CT system (Somatom Force; Siemens Healthineers, Forchheim, Germany). PCATMAmeasurements were performed semi-automatically around the proximal segment of the three main coronary arteries on curved planar reformats (Figure 1). In 60 coronary vessels from 20 randomly selected patients, intra- and inter-observer agreement was determined. Multivariable regression analysis was used to...

Of the patients, 39.6% (76) were men, and the median age was 49 years (range, 19-79).The overall mean PCATMA value was -90.3±11.1HU. Multivariable regression analysis results showed that only the kV level was significantly associated with PCATMA (p0.05). Mean PCATMAof LAD, LCX and RCA were all slightly, but significantly different (p

PCATMA of the main coronary arteries in patients without coronary plaque shows slight differences. There is an important effect of CCTA tube voltage on reference PCATMA values, suggesting kV setting needs to be taken into account when interpreting PCATMA values.

All the co-authors are currently employed by the University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, the Netherlands. Financial support provided by the China Scholarship Council (CSC) to the first author is gratefully acknowledged.

Antonopoulos AS, Sanna F, Sabharwal N, Thomas S, Oikonomou EK, Herdman L, Margaritis M, Shirodaria C, Kampoli AM, Akoumianakis I, Petrou M, Sayeed R, Krasopoulos G, Psarros C, Ciccone P, Brophy CM, Digby J, Kelion A, Uberoi R, Anthony S, Alexopoulos N, Tousoulis D, Achenbach S, Neubauer S, Channon KM, Antoniades C. Detecting human coronary inflammation by imaging perivascular fat. Sci Transl Med 2017;9(398). doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aal2658 Kwiecinski J, Dey D, Cadet S, Lee SE, Otaki Y, Huynh PT, Doris MK, Eisenberg E, Yun M, Jansen...