Association of epicardial adipose tissue with different stages of coronary artery disease: A cross-sectional UK Biobank cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging substudy.

Objective: Increased epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) has been identified as a risk factor for the development of coronary artery disease (CAD). However, the exact role of EAT in the development of CAD is unclear. This study aims to compare EAT volumes between healthy controls and individuals with stable CAD and a history of myocardial infarction (MI).

Focal pericoronary adipose tissue attenuation is related to plaque presence, plaque type, and stenosis severity in coronary CTA.

Objectives: To investigate the association of pericoronary adipose tissue mean attenuation (PCAT) with coronary artery disease (CAD) characteristics on coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA).

Methods: We retrospectively investigated 165 symptomatic patients who underwent third-generation dual-source CCTA at 70kVp: 93 with and 72 without CAD (204 arteries with plaque, 291 without plaque). CCTA was evaluated for presence and characteristics of CAD per artery.

Towards reference values of pericoronary adipose tissue attenuation: impact of coronary artery and tube voltage in coronary computed tomography angiography.

Objectives: To determine normal pericoronary adipose tissue mean attenuation (PCAT) values for left the anterior descending (LAD), left circumflex (LCX), and right coronary artery (RCA) in patients without plaques on coronary CT angiography (cCTA), taking into account tube voltage influence.

Methods: This retrospective study included 192 patients (76 (39.6%) men; median age 49 years (range, 19-79)) who underwent cCTA with third-generation dual-source CT for the suspicion of CAD between 2015 and 2017.

Active Tobacco Smoking Impairs Cardiac Systolic Function.

Tobacco smoking is a well-established risk factor for cardiovascular disease, but its direct effect on myocardial structure and function remains unclear. This study investigated the effects of smoking using a nested matched case-control study design. 5,668 participants of the UK Biobank study who underwent cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging were screened for inclusion.

T1 reactivity as an imaging biomarker in myocardial tissue characterization discriminating normal, ischemic and infarcted myocardium.

To demonstrate the potential for differentiating normal and diseased myocardium without Gadolinium using rest and stress T1-mapping. Patients undergoing 1.5T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as part of clinical work-up due to suspicion of coronary artery disease (CAD) were included.

Computational quantitative flow ratio to assess functional severity of coronary artery stenosis.

Background Computational quantitative flow ratio (QFR) based on 3-dimensional quantitative coronary angiography (3D QCA) analysis offers the opportunity to assess the significance of coronary artery disease (CAD) without using an invasive pressure wire or inducing hyperemia. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of QFR compared to wire-based fractional flow reserve (FFR) and to validate the previously reported QFR cut-off value of >0.90 to safely rule out functionally significant CAD.

Effects of Caffeine on Myocardial Blood Flow: A Systematic Review.

Caffeine is one of the most widely consumed stimulants worldwide. It is a well-recognized antagonist of adenosine and a potential cause of false-negative functional measurements during vasodilator myocardial perfusion. The aim of this systematic review is to summarize the evidence regarding the effects of caffeine intake on functional measurements of myocardial perfusion in patients with suspected coronary artery disease.

Disagreement between splenic switch-off and myocardial T1-mapping after caffeine intake.

Caffeine is an adenosine receptor antagonist and a possible cause of inadequate stress perfusion. Splenic switch-off (SSO) and splenic rest-stress T1-mapping have been proposed as indicators of stress adequacy during perfusion cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR). We compared myocardial rest-stress T1-mapping with SSO and splenic rest-stress T1-mapping in patients with and without recent coffee intake.

Influence of hydrostatic pressure on intracoronary indices of stenosis severity in vivo.

Background: An influence of hydrostatic pressure on intracoronary indices of stenosis severity in vitro was recently reported. We sought to analyze the influence of hydrostatic pressure, caused by the height difference between the distal and proximal pressure sensor after guidewire positioning in the interrogated vessel, on intracoronary pressure measurements in vivo.

Methods And Results: In 30 coronary stenoses, intracoronary pressure measurements were performed in supine, left, and right lateral patient position.

Accurate late gadolinium enhancement prediction by early T1- based quantitative synthetic mapping.

Objectives: Early synthetic gadolinium enhancement (ESGE) imaging from post-contrast T1 mapping after adenosine stress-perfusion cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) was compared to conventional late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) imaging for assessing myocardial scar.

Methods: Two hundred fourteen consecutive patients suspected of myocardial ischaemia were referred for stress-perfusion CMR. Myocardial infarct volume was quantified on a per-subsegment basis in both synthetic (2-3 min post-gadolinium) and conventional (9 min post-gadolinium) images by two independent observers.