Abstract
BACKGROUND: Stable coronary artery disease (CAD), a common condition in CAD, often requires monitoring and treatment. However, predicting its chronic stenosis progression remains challenging. Peri-coronary fat attenuation index (FAI), a quantitative parameter derived from coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA), may provide valuable information for predicting the chronic stenosis progression of CAD. By examining the relationship between peri-coronary FAI and chronic stenosis progression in three different coronary arteries, we aimed to address a critical knowledge gap in the field of cardiovascular disease prevention and treatment. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of 145 stable CAD patients' CCTA images revealed stenosis degree, plaque properties, and quantitative parameters. Patients were divided into progression and no progression groups at three coronary artery levels. Intergroup comparison, univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were applied to identify predictors of stenosis progression in each coronary artery. Additionally, subgroup analyses of FAI based on different study intervals were performed. RESULTS: Stenosis progression was most commonly seen in the left anterior descending artery (LAD), especially in its proximal and middle segments. Peri-coronary FAI was significantly higher in the progression group than it was in the no progression group [-72.2±7.8 vs. -76.3±7.7 Hounsfield units (HU), P=0.007] and emerged as the only independent predictor of stenosis progression in the right coronary artery (RCA) [odds ratio (OR) =1.065, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.008-1.126, P=0.026], whereas it was marginally higher in the progression group than it was in the no progression group in the left main branch plus left circumflex artery (LM + CX) (-73.1±7.8 vs. -75.8±6.7 HU, P=0.062), and statistically similar between the two groups in LAD (-77.3±6.1 vs. -78.2±8.2 HU, P=0.472). Subgroup analyses showed that only FAI in subgroup "RCA, 3-12 months" was statistically different between the progression and no progression groups (-63.5±7.2 vs. -84.7±6.6, P=0.003), and the result in subgroup "LM + CX, 3-12 months" was promising (-67.3±12.6 vs. -79.7±2.5 HU, P=0.093). CONCLUSIONS: Baseline peri-coronary FAI is valuable in predicting chronic coronary stenosis progression that occurs within a short period (within 1 year) in RCA, and, potentially, in LM + CX. Stenosis progression in LAD might be mainly driven by factors other than coronary inflammation.