Association between Aortic Arch Calcification Detected on Plain Chest X-Ray and Myocardial Scarring Detected on Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Coronary Heart Disease Patients.

Background: Coronary heart disease requires advanced investigations. However, findings of fundamental investigations are sometimes underused and/or neglected, such as plain chest X-ray (CXR) and electrocardiography (ECG). A previous study found an association between aortic calcification and coronary artery disease, but there are no studies that have investigated association between aortic arch calcification in CXR and coronary artery disease consequences, such as myocardial viability (scarring).

Objective: To investigated association between aortic arch calcification detected on plain CXR and myocardial scarring detected on cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) in coronary heart disease patients.

Material And Method: one hundred eighty-seven eligible patients aged ≥18 years and diagnosed as coronary heart disease by CMRI at Siriraj Hospital between January 2008 and December 2014 study periods were enrolled. We retrospectively reviewed aortic arch calcification from plain CXR, demographic data, hospitalization data, underlying disease, medications used, and CMRI parameters.

Results: There was no significant association between aortic arch calcification from CXR and myocardial scar by CMRI. Aortic arch calcification was detected in 86 (45.98%) and 78 (41.70%) of patients with and without myocardial scar by CMRI (p = 0.981). There was no significant correlation between calcium grading and calcium thickness from CXR and the presence or absence of myocardial scar by CMRI. Myocardial scar was detected in 52.2%, 47.8%, 51.4%, and 59.1% in patients with calcium grade 0, 1, 2, and 3 respectively (p = 0.751).

Conclusion: There was no association found between aortic arch calcification detected on plain CXR and myocardial scarring detected on CMRI.