Search

Background: Atherosclerotic coronary artery disease (CAD) has long been shown to involve chronic low-grade subclinical inflammation. However, whether there is association between hematological indices assessed by complete blood count (CBC) and coronary atherosclerotic burden has not been well studied. Materials and Methods: Consecutive 868 patients without known CAD who presented with acute chest pain to emergency department and underwent coronary artery calcium (CAC) scoring evaluation by multi-detector cardiac computed tomography were included in our study. Clinical characteristics and CBC indices were compared among different CAC groups. Results: The cohort comprised 60% male with a mean age of 61 (SD = 14) years. Median Framingham risk of CAD was 4% (range 1-16%). Median CAC score was 0 (IQR 0-43). Higher CAC groups had significantly higher Framingham risk of CAD than lower CAC groups (P < 0.001). Among different CAC categories, there was no statistically significant difference in hemoglobin level (p 0.45), mean corpuscular volume (p 0.43), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (p 0.28), mean corpuscular hemoglobin volume (p 0.36), red cell distribution width (0.42), total white blood cell counts (p 0.291), neutrophil counts (p 0.352), lymphocyte counts (p 0.92), neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (p 0.68), monocyte count (p 0.48), and platelet counts (p 0.25). Conclusion: Our study did not detect significant association between hematological indices assessed with CBC and coronary calcification in symptomatic patients without known CAD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obesity paradox has been described in various populations of coronary artery disease, mainly asymptomatic subjects. However, relationship between obesity and coronary artery calcification detected by cardiac CT in symptomatic patients has rarely been demonstrated. This study seeks to investigate whether the paradoxical relationship between obesity and coronary artery calcification exists in patients with acute chest pain. A final cohort of 1030 chest pain patients presenting at our emergency department who underwent coronary evaluation by multidetector cardiac CT were examined. With absent-to-mild coronary calcification (CAC score < 100) as a referent, multivariable analysis showed that presence of obesity (OR 0.564; 95% CI 0.395,0.806; P 0.002), body mass index (OR 0.945; 95% CI 0.920, 0.971; P < 0.001), body weight (OR 0.987; 95% CI 0.979, 0.995; P 0.001), and body surface area (OR 0.582; 95% CI 0.369, 0.920; P 0.020) were inversely associated with moderate-to-severe coronary calcification (CAC score > 100). This study extends the concept of obesity paradox to symptomatic patients undergoing coronary artery calcium score assessment. However, biological explanation(s) of this paradox remains unanswered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study of a 65-year-old man suffering from paroxysmal atrial fibrillation and hypertension. The patient was recommended for a radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) of the pulmonary veins to avoid recurrent episodes. Furthermore, he underwent cardiac computed tomography (CT) and revealed an anomalous left circumflex artery which coexists with septal defect to the atrium.

Introduction Obesity has been inconsistently linked with coronary artery calcium score (CACS) as a surrogate of coronary artery disease (CAD) in asymptomatic subjects. Our aim was to examine whether there is relationship between obesity defined by BMI≥30kg/m2 and presence and severity of CAD defined by CACS in patients with acute chest pain.Methods In this cross-sectional study, 1030 consecutive patients without reported history of coronary artery disease who presented with acute chest pain were included. CACS by non-contrast CT scan and BMI were collected. Patients were categorized by CACS classifications and BMI.Results The population with mean age of 54±13 years, 33% (338 of 1030) of patients being overweight and 46% (477 of 1030) being obese consisted of 60.6% (624 of 1030) patients with zero CACS, 21.7% (223 of 1030) with mild calcification (02 is INVERSELY associated with presence and severity of coronary artery disease defined by coronary artery calcium score in patients with acute chest pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]