Keywords:
Arteriosclerosis, Diagnostic procedure, CT, Cardiovascular system, Cardiac
Authors:
D. K. Galaska, R. Galaska, J. Fijalkowska, M. Fijalkowski, A. Wegrzyn, E. Szurowska, M. Gruchala; Gdansk/PL
Methods and Materials
We included to the study patients with suspicion of FH admitted to our outpatient preventive clinic between 2010 and 2013. In all patients with at least 3 points according to the Dutch Lipid Clinic Network criteria for identification of familial hypercholesterolaemia genetic testing was performed.
We included only patients with confirmed LDLR mutation to this analysis.
Cases with previous clinically apparent coronary artery disease were excluded.
Other exclusion criteria were: age < 30 years,
secondary hypercholesterolaemia,
pregnancy,
and renal insufficiency.
Finally,
72 patients (29 men and 43 women) with LDLR mutation were included,
with a mean age of 49.6 ± 12 years.
AVCS assessment was also performed on an NFH group consisting of 50 individuals selected from patients with no LDLR or APOB mutations.
The exclusion criteria were the same as for FH patients.
Computed tomography was performed using a 64 row CT scanner (GE) with ECG gating,
during inspiration,
scanning from the aortic arch to the diaphragm.
Images were reconstructed with a slice thickness of 1.25 mm.
AVCS was calculated for each patient using volumetric methods by means of SmartScore 4.0 software.