title: Single-slice epicardial fat area measurement: do we need to measure the total epicardial fat volume?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to assess a method for measuring epicardial fat volume (EFV) by means of a single-slice area measurement. We investigated the relation between a single-slice fat area measurement and total EFV.
  
  
  METHODS
  A series of 72 consecutive patients (ages 65 ± 11 years; 36 men) who had undergone cardiac computed tomography (CT) on a 64-slice multidetector scanner with prospective electrocardiographic triggering were retrospectively reviewed. Pixels in the pericardium with a density range from -230 to -30 Hounsfield units were considered fat, giving the per-slice epicardial fat area (EFA). The EFV was estimated by the summation of EFAs multiplied by the slice thickness. We investigated the relation between total EFV and each EFA.
  
  
  RESULTS
  EFAs measured at several anatomical landmarks-right pulmonary artery, origins of the left main coronary artery, right coronary artery, coronary sinus-all correlated with the EFV (r = 0.77-0.92). The EFA at the LMCA level was highly reproducible and showed an excellent correlation with the EFV (r = 0.92).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The EFA is significantly correlated with the EFV. The EFA is a simple, quick method for representing the time-consuming EFV, which has been used as a predictive indicator of cardiovascular diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Hokkaido University Hospital, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Japan. norikooyama@med.hokudai.ac.jp
authors.forename: Noriko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Oyama
authors.forename: Daisuke
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Goto
authors.forename: Yoichi M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ishimori
authors.forename: Rie
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mimura
authors.forename: Tomoo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Furumoto
authors.forename: Fumi
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tsutsui
authors.forename: Nagara
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tamaki
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Terae
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shirato
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D000368:Aged; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010496:Pericardium / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*