Low-density lipoprotein and noncalcified coronary plaque composition in patients with newly diagnosed coronary artery disease on computed tomographic angiography.

摘要

We sought to determine significant relations between atherogenic lipoproteins and the contribution of calcified plaque (CP), mixed plaque (MP), and noncalcified plaque (NCP) to the total plaque (TP) burden in patients without previous coronary artery disease. From 823 adult patients without previously established coronary artery disease (52% receiving statin therapy, 34% asymptomatic) but with visible coronary plaque on coronary computed tomographic angiography, we obtained segmental CP, MP, NCP, and TP counts from contrast-enhanced, electrocardiographic-gated computed tomography. Multivariate linear regression analysis was used to determine the associations of clinical factors and lipoprotein levels to CP, MP, and NCP counts and CP/TP, MP/TP, and NCP/TP count ratios. Age, male gender, diabetes, smoking, and statin therapy were significantly associated with the CP count (p <0.001, p <0.001, p = 0.049, p = 0.016, and p = 0.003, respectively). Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol was significantly associated with MP and NCP counts (all p values