Low-dose CT coronary angiography for assessment of coronary artery disease in patients with type 2 diabetes--a cross-sectional study

Coronary computed tomography angiography as a screening tool for moderate-high risk asymptomatic type 2 diabetes mellitus patients

Background

There are few data on the clinical significance of coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) in asymptomatic type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients. We performed a retrospective study to evaluate coronary heart disease (CHD) screening in asymptomatic patients with T2DM using CCTA and CHD risk stratification prediction.

Materials and methods

Data from 141 T2DM patients (58 ± 8 years, 57% males) without known symptoms suggestive of CHD who underwent CCTA were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were classified into three subgroups based on United Kingdom prospective diabetes study (UKPDS) CHD risk stratification prediction. Seventy-four patients without diabetes mellitus and CHD who underwent CCTA successively were chosen as the control group. The segment involvement score (SIS), segment stenosis score (SSS), stenosis coefficient (SC), severe proximal plaque (SPP) positive ratio and CCTA-adapted Leaman score (CT-LeSc) based on CCTA data were evaluated and compared among the groups.

Results

Compared with the patients in the control group, patients in the moderate-high risk DM groups had higher scores on the SIS, SSS, SC, CT-LeSc, and a higher SPP positive ratio (all p-values < 0.001), and no difference was observed between the low-risk group and the control group (p = 0.136, p = 0.088, p = 0.0.067, p = 0.225, p = 1.000, respectively). Compared with patients in the control group, the patients in the moderate-high risk DM groups had increased odds of SIS > 3 [odds ratio (OR) = 6.557, p < 0.001; OR = 4.455, p < 0.001, respectively], SSS > 5 (OR = 5.727, p < 0.001; OR = 5.144, p < 0.001, respectively), CT-LeSc > 8.7 (OR = 3.780, p = 0.001; OR = 2.804, p = 0.007, respectively), and obstructive stenosis (OR = 7.233, p < 0.001; OR = 5.787, p < 0.001, respectively).

Conclusion

The moderate-high CHD risk patients had increased odds of obstructive coronary artery stenosis, and the distribution of coronary artery stenosis was more extensive and more severe in that group compared to the patients without diabetes mellitus and CHD. CHD can be effectively screened in moderate-high risk asymptomatic T2DM patients using CCTA.

Use of Coronary CT Angiography as a Screening Tool for Coronary Artery Disease in Asymptomatic Healthy Individuals or Patients

심장 돌연사 환자들은 종종 흉통 또는 운동성 호흡곤란 등의 전조증상이 나타나지 않기 때문에 잠재적인 무증상 관상동맥 질환을 조기에 발견하는 것이 매우 중요하다. 관상동맥 전산화단층촬영 혈관조영술은 방사선 노출로 인한 위험성 때문에 무증상 환자에서 스크리닝 검사로 정당화되지 못했었지만 최근에 전산화단층촬영 기술의 비약적인 발전으로 방사선량을 1 mSv 미만으로 최소화함으로써 무증상 환자의 관상동맥 질환 선별 검사의 유용성에 대한 많은 연구가 진행되어 왔다. 그러나, 여전히 무증상 정상인 또는 환자의 관상동맥 질환 선별 검사에 대한 관상동맥 전산화단층촬영 혈관조영술의 유용성에 대해서는 다양한 의견들이 있다. 이 종설에서는 무증상 정상인 또는 환자들에게 관상동맥 질환 선별 검사로 관상동맥 칼슘 점수와 관상동맥 전산화단층촬영 혈관조영술 유용성에 대해서 다양한 문헌고찰을 통해서 알아보았다. 관상동맥 전산화단층촬영 혈관조영술상 무증상 정상인의 2.6%에서 70% 이상의 유의한 관상동맥 협착이 발견되었고, 선별 목적의 관상동맥 전산화단층촬영 혈관조영술이 무증상 건강한 사람의 미래의 심혈관 질환 발생을 예측할 수 있다. 그러나 현재 미국국립보건원에서 진행하고 있는 SCOT-HEART 2 연구가 끝나면 관상동맥 전산화단층촬영 혈관조영술이 무증상 성인의 심혈관 예방에 선별 검사로 적절한지 결정을 내릴 수 있을 것으로 생각된다.

Coronary artery disease (CAD) extension-derived risk stratification for asymptomatic diabetic patients: usefulness of low-dose coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) in detecting high-risk profile patients

BACKGROUND

As one of the most frequent risk factors for cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is one of the largest causes of death. However, an acute cardiac presentation is not uncommon in diabetic patients, and the current investigative approach remains often inadequate. The aim of our study was to retrospectively stratify the risk of asymptomatic T2DM patients using low-dose 640-slice coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

CCTA examinations of 62 patients (mean age, 65 years) with previous diagnosis of type 2 diabetes and without cardiac symptoms were analyzed. Image acquisition was performed using a 640-slice CT. Per-patient, per-vessel and per-plaque analyses were performed. Stratification risk was evaluated according to the ESC guidelines. The patients were followed up after 2.21 ± 0.56 years from CCTA examination.

RESULTS

Coronary artery disease (CAD) was found in 58 patients (93.55%) presenting 290 plaques. Analysis of all samples showed severe-to-occlusive atherosclerosis in 24 patients (38.7% of cases). However, over the degree of stenosis, 23 patients were evaluated at high risk considering the extension of CAD. Good agreement was shown by the correlation of CAD extension/risk estimation and MACE incidence, according to a Kaplan-Meier survival analysis (p value = 0.001), with a 7.25-fold increased risk (HR 7.25 CI 2.13-24.7; p value = 0.002).

CONCLUSION

Our study confirms the high capability of CCTA to properly stratify the CV risk of asymptomatic T2DM patients. Its use could be recommended if we consider how current investigative strategies to correctly assess these patients often seem inadequate.

Assessment of high sensitivity C-reactive protein and coronary plaque characteristics by computed tomography in patients with and without diabetes mellitus

Background

To evaluate the coronary plaque characteristics of coronary arteries using computed tomography angiography (CTA) in order to assess the risk of coronary artery disease and the relevance of high sensitivity C reactive protein (hs-CRP) in patients with Diabetes Mellitus (DM).

Methods

The clinical data of 400 DM patients and 400 non-DM patients from January 2017 to December 2019 were collected, including the results of coronaryCTA. The plasma hs-CRP level of the two groups were divided into three groups: CRP ≤ 1, 1 < CRP ≤ 2, CRP > 2. The correlation of the degree of stenosis, the number of plaques, the nature of plaques and hs-CRP value between the two groups was evaluated.

Results

Compared with non-DM patients, the incidence of coronary artery plaques and lumen stenosis in DM patients was more higher than that in non-DM patients. DM patients were more likely to have more diseased vessels, especially diffuse vascular disease (12.00% vs 1.75%; P < 0.001). Subjects with high hs-CRP levels were more likely to have any plaque compared with individuals showing normal hs-CRP levels (p<0.01). There was no statistical significance in non calcified plaque with high level of hs-CRP, but the occurrence of plaque types in DM group was statistically significant compared with other hs-CRP levels in non DM group. Subjects with high hs-CRP were observed to be at increased risk for the presence of calcified plaque and severe narrowing in the unadjusted values.

Conclusions

Coronary CTA combined with hs-CRP can accurately detect the characteristics of coronary artery stenosis and plaque in DM patients, which has an important clinical value in the risk assessment of coronary heart disease in DM patients.

Screening and Risk Assessment of Coronary Artery Disease in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes: An Updated Review

Current literature indicates that there is a strong correlation between coronary artery disease (CAD) and type 2 diabetes. The arteriosclerotic progression occurs earlier and in a greater extent in the diabetic than in the non-diabetic population. In diabetic subjects, the detection of arterial disease does not always precede the development of an acute arterial incident. Herein, we reviewed studies published within the last 5 years in order to reveal the risk factors for coronary artery disease in patients with type 2 diabetes. In addition, we aimed to discuss how to diagnose in an early stage or even screen the presence of coronary artery disease in asymptomatic diabetic patients. Possible blood markers as predictors of CAD, which are mostly related to the lipidemic profile of subjects, are included in this review. Less invasive imaging methods than conventional coronary angiography, included in the article, are gradually used more in the diagnosis of CAD and show high effectiveness. Data from 23 articles with 22,350 patients having type 2 diabetes were summarized and presented descriptively.

Clinical impact of low-radiation computed tomography coronary angiography diagnosis for coronary artery stenosis: Study Protocol

BACKGROUND

The objective of this study aims to assess the clinic impact of low-radiation computed tomography coronary angiography (LR-CTCA) diagnosis for coronary artery stenosis (CAS).

METHODS

This study will comprehensively search the following electronic databases from inception to the present: PUBMED, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Google, Allied and Complementary Medicine Database, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, VIP database, WANGFANG, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure. All these electronic databases will be searched without language restrictions. All case-controlled studies on assessing the clinical impact of LR-CTCA diagnosis for patients with CAS will be included. Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies tool will be utilized to evaluate the methodological quality for each qualified studies.

RESULTS

We will assess the clinic impact of LR-CTCA diagnosis for CAS by measuring sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio, and diagnostic odds ratio.

CONCLUSION

The results of this study will summarize the latest evidence of LR-CTCA diagnosis for CAS.

SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION

PROSPERO CRD42019139336.

Long-term prognostic value of coronary computed tomography angiography for asymptomatic patients with CAD in type 2 diabetes mellitus

The present study was performed to investigate the prognostic value of coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) results for asymptomatic patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). A total of 164 asymptomatic patients with T2DM were enrolled at Weifang Traditional Chinese Hospital (Weifang, China). Coronary plaques and stenosis severity were evaluated after CTA. Structures >1 mm² adjacent to or within the coronary artery lumen that could be clearly separated from the vessel lumen, was scored as a coronary plaque. Stenosis of ≥50% was considered as being obstructive. CAD was defined as the presence of any coronary plaque or a coronary artery calcium (CAC) score of >0. A CAC score of 0 and no coronary plaques was considered to indicate the absence of CAD. A 5-year follow-up was performed to determine the impact of the CTA findings and various clinicopathological characteristics on the prognosis of all participants. The primary end-point was any cardiac event. Event-free survival curves were plotted using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared using the log-rank test. Based on the coronary CTA results, the patients were classified into 3 groups according to the extent of stenosis: Normal coronary arteries, obstructive CAD and non-obstructive CAD. Significant differences in 5-year event-free survival were identified among the groups with normal coronary arteries, non-obstructive CAD and obstructive CAD (P=0.026). Further analysis indicated that the event-free survival rate of patients with 1-vessel CAD was 94.11%, that of patients with 2-vessel CAD was 73.68% and that associated with 3-vessel CAD was 61.54%. Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that non-obstructive as well as obstructive CAD diagnosed by coronary CTA are prognostic indicators for asymptomatic T2DM patients [hazard ratio (HR)=11.132, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.857-66.742, P=0.008; HR=7.792, 95% CI: 1.750-34.698, P=0.007, respectively]. In conclusion, the present study suggests that coronary CTA may predict the prognosis of asymptomatic patients with T2DM.

Association between plasma proprotein convertase subtisilin/kexin type 9 concentration and coronary artery calcification

Background Plasma proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) has been reported to be related to several risk factors and diseases such as inflammatory markers and coronary artery disease. The aim of present study was to investigate whether plasma PCSK9 concentration was associated with coronary artery calcification. Methods A total of 403 consecutive untreated patients with angina-like chest pain, who received electron beam computed tomography, were enrolled and a coronary artery calcification score (CACS) was also measured. The baseline clinical characteristics were collected and blood sample was taken after 12-h fasting. The plasma PCSK9 concentrations were determined by ELISA in all patients, and the relationship between plasma PCSK9 concentrations and CACS was investigated. Results Patients with coronary artery calcification (CACS > 0) had significant higher plasma PCSK9 concentrations compared with those (CACS = 0) without coronary artery calcification (258.58 ± 69.53 ng/mL vs. 202.53 ± 52.17 ng/mL, P < 0.001). Patients with highest PCSK9 concentrations had the highest CACS. Multivariable linear regression analysis suggested that PCSK9 was independently associated with coronary artery calcification ( P = 0.002) after adjusting for traditional cardiovascular risk factors. Furthermore, the area under the curve for the plasma PCSK9 concentration in predicting coronary artery calcification was 0.736 (95% CI: 0.687-0.785, P < 0.001), with a sensitivity of 66% and specificity of 70%. Conclusion A positive association between plasma PCSK9 concentration and coronary artery calcification in untreated patients with angina-like chest pain was observed in our study, suggesting that further investigation may be needed in order to confirm our primary findings and explore the clinical implications.