title: Pericardial adipose tissue determined by dual source CT is a risk factor for coronary atherosclerosis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Pericardial fat as a visceral fat depot may be involved in the pathogenesis of coronary atherosclerosis. To gain evidence for that concept we sought to investigate the relation of pericardial fat volumes to risk factors, serum adiponectin levels, inflammatory biomarkers, and the quantity and morphology of coronary atherosclerosis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Using Dual source CT angiography pericardial fat volume and coronary atherosclerosis were assessed simultaneously. Plaques were classified as calcified, mixed, and noncalcified, and the number of affected segments served as quantitative score. Patients with atherosclerotic lesions had significant larger PAT volumes (226 cm3+/-92 cm3) than patients without atherosclerosis (134 cm3+/-56 cm3; P>0.001). No association was found between BMI and coronary atherosclerosis. PAT volumes >300 cm3 were the strongest independent risk factor for coronary atherosclerosis (odds ratio 4.1; CI 3.63 to 4.33) also significantly stronger compared to the Framingham score. We furthermore demonstrated that elevated PAT volumes are significantly associated with low adiponectin levels, low HDL levels, elevated TNF-alpha levels, and hsCRP.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the present study we demonstrated that elevated PAT volumes are associated with coronary atherosclerosis, hypoadiponectinemia, and inflammation and represent the strongest risk factor for the presence of atherosclerosis and may be important for risk stratification and monitoring.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Klinikum Grosshadern, University Hospital of Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Greif
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.forename: Franz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: von Ziegler
authors.forename: Corinna
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lebherz
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lehrke
authors.forename: Uli C
authors.initials: UC
authors.lastname: Broedl
authors.forename: Janine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tittus
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Parhofer
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.forename: Maximilian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Reiser
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Knez
authors.forename: Alexander W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Leber
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010496:Pericardium / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012372:ROC Curve; D012307:Risk Factors; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers