BACKGROUND: Coronary artery calcification determined by electron beam CT (EBCT) is strongly associated with total plaque burden but is not related to systemic vascular inflammation. AIMS: We sought to test the hypothesis that enhanced coronary artery calcification, a marker of atherosclerosis and plaque burden, was related to endothelial dysfunction in patients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD). METHODS AND RESULTS: One hundred twenty-four subjects with suspected CAD were enrolled. Coronary artery calcification was detected by EBCT. A noninvasive method of brachial ultrasound was used to measure endothelium-dependent flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD) and endothelium-independent nitroglycerin-mediated vasodilation (NMD). Serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) levels were also determined. Of the 124 patients, the calcium scores ranged from 0 to 4,394. All subjects were classified into three groups according to coronary calcium scores: group 1, score 0 (n = 26); group 2, scores 1 to 199 (n = 50); group 3, scores > or = 200 (n = 48). There was an inverse association between the degree of coronary artery calcification and the endothelium-dependent FMD in the three groups (6.9 +/- 0.6% vs 5.3 +/- 0.3% vs 3.7 +/- 0.3%, respectively; p < 0.001) but not the endothelium-independent NMD. Besides, no significant difference in serum levels of hsCRP and MCP-1 were found among the three groups. However, both the serum levels of hsCRP and MCP-1 were correlated significantly with endothelium-dependent FMD (r = - 0.211, p = 0.019; and r = - 0.188, p = 0.037, respectively). By multivariate analysis, enhanced coronary calcification was a strong independent predictor of endothelial dysfunction (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Enhanced coronary artery calcification strongly predicted endothelial dysfunction in patients with suspected CAD. Also, serum levels of hsCRP and MCP-1 were significantly correlated with endothelial function. These findings suggested that both calcium deposition and inflammation were involved in endothelial dysfunction.
BACKGROUND:Coronary artery calcification determined by electron beam CT (EBCT) is strongly associated with total plaque burden but is not related to systemic vascular inflammation. AIMS: We sought to test the hypothesis that enhanced coronary artery calcification, a marker of atherosclerosis and plaque burden, was related to endothelial dysfunction in patients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD). METHODS AND RESULTS: One hundred twenty-four subjects with suspected CAD were enrolled. Coronary artery calcification was detected by EBCT. A noninvasive method of brachial ultrasound was used to measure endothelium-dependent flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD) and endothelium-independent nitroglycerin-mediated vasodilation (NMD). Serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) levels were also determined. Of the 124 patients, the calcium scores ranged from 0 to 4,394. All subjects were classified into three groups according to coronary calcium scores: group 1, score 0 (n = 26); group 2, scores 1 to 199 (n = 50); group 3, scores > or = 200 (n = 48). There was an inverse association between the degree of coronary artery calcification and the endothelium-dependent FMD in the three groups (6.9 +/- 0.6% vs 5.3 +/- 0.3% vs 3.7 +/- 0.3%, respectively; p < 0.001) but not the endothelium-independent NMD. Besides, no significant difference in serum levels of hsCRP and MCP-1 were found among the three groups. However, both the serum levels of hsCRP and MCP-1 were correlated significantly with endothelium-dependent FMD (r = - 0.211, p = 0.019; and r = - 0.188, p = 0.037, respectively). By multivariate analysis, enhanced coronary calcification was a strong independent predictor of endothelial dysfunction (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Enhanced coronary artery calcification strongly predicted endothelial dysfunction in patients with suspected CAD. Also, serum levels of hsCRP and MCP-1 were significantly correlated with endothelial function. These findings suggested that both calcium deposition and inflammation were involved in endothelial dysfunction.
Authors: Mohammed S Alam; Rachel Green; Robert de Kemp; Rob S Beanlands; Benjamin J W Chow Journal: J Nucl Cardiol Date: 2013-06-08 Impact factor: 5.952
Authors: Zelmira Curillova; Bettina F Yaman; Sharmila Dorbala; Raymond Y Kwong; Arkadius Sitek; Georges El Fakhri; Constantinos Anagnostopoulos; Marcelo F Di Carli Journal: Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging Date: 2009-04-22 Impact factor: 9.236
Authors: Jing Li; Andreas J Flammer; Rebecca E Nelson; Rajiv Gulati; Paul A Friedman; Randal J Thomas; Nicole P Sandhu; Martin K Reriani; Lilach O Lerman; Amir Lerman Journal: Circ J Date: 2012-07-31 Impact factor: 2.993