Correlation between coronary atherosclerosis calcification and epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) volume in patients with nephropathy was investigated. A total of 529 patients with high risk of coronary atherosclerotic nephropathy were selected from August 2013 to September 2016 in Xianyang Central Hospital to serve as research subjects, and their clinical data were retrospectively analyzed. All patients underwent coronary artery and EAT examination using dual-source CT. Correlation between EAT and severity of coronary atherosclerosis, calcification, lesions, and BMI were analyzed. Volume of EAT in patients with atherosclerosis was significantly higher than that in patients without atherosclerosis (p<0.05). EAT volume was positively correlated with BMI (r=0.61, p<0.05), calcification scores (r=0.72, p<0.05) and the number of coronary artery lesions (r=0.64, p<0.05) in patients with nephropathy. Coronary atherosclerosis calcification score, number of lesions and BMI are positively correlated with the EAT volume in patients with nephropathy. Detection of EAT volume may serve as a predictor of the occurrence and develop-ment of coronary atherosclerosis in the future.
Keywords: coronary artery calcification; coronary atherosclerosis; epicardial adipose tissue; kidney disease; number of coronary artery lesions.