The relation between pericoronary fat thickness and density quantified by coronary computed tomography angiography with coronary artery disease severity

Objective: To study the correlation between epicardial fat thickness (EFT), pericoronary fat thickness (PCFT), and pericoronary fat density (PCFD) with the existence and severity of coronary artery disease (CAD).Methods: This cross-sectional study included 210 patients referred for multislice CT angiography. Group I normal CTCA, Group II patients had non-obstructive atherosclerosis, and Group III patients had obstructive atherosclerosis. All patients underwent a clinical examination, history taking, and multislice CT angiography.Results: The mean EFT was significantly greater in group III (10.43 +/- 2.31 mm) compared to groups II (6.30 +/- 1.61 mm) and I (5.06 +/- 1.14 mm). The mean PCFT was significantly greater in group III (17.96 +/- 2.89 mm) compared to group II (11.47 +/- 2.51 mm) and group I (9.67 +/- 1.99 mm). PCFD was significantly higher adjacent to the lesion (-80.47 +/- 29.14) compared to the normal segment (-109.03 +/- 35.24), higher in the obstructive group (-59.44 +/- 20.10) compared to the non-obstructive group (-101.51 +/- 20.23), but lower in calcified lesions (-89.58 +/- 28.94) compared to non-calcified (-75.01 +/- 29.20), and mixed lesions (-74.83 +/- 26.90). EFT and PCFT cut-off values for predicting obstructive CAD were 8.3 and 12.4 mm, respectively, with 87.1% and 92.9% sensitivity and 92.9% and 86.4% specificity, respectively. Conclusion: There is a significant association between epicardial fat thickness, pericoronary fat thickness and density with the severity of coronary artery disease.(c) 2023 Cardiological Society of India. Published by Elsevier, a division of RELX India, Pvt. Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).