Relationship between epicardial adipose tissue thickness and plasma N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide level in patients with stable coronary artery disease

AIM: To analyze the relationship between epicardial adipose tissue(EAT) thickness and plasma N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide(NT-proBNP) level in the patients with stable coronary artery disease.METHODS: The patients with chest pain(n=115) admitted to our hospital underwent coronary artery computer tomography and further underwent coronary angiography for confirming whether they had coronary artery disease. EAT thickness was evaluated at the right ventricular free wall imaged by coronary artery computer tomography. Plasma NT-proBNP level was examined by an automatic biochemistry analyzer.RESULTS: Eighty-one patients were confirmed to have stable coronary artery disease and thirty-four patients were excluded to have coronary artery disease. Left ventricular ejection fraction of these patients of 2 groups were all normal. The natural logarithm of plasma NT-proBNP level ln(NT-proBNP)] of the patients with stable coronary artery disease was significantly higher than that of the patients without coronary artery disease(P<0.05). EAT thickness of the patients with stable coronary artery disease was also higher than that of the patients without coronary artery disease(P<0.05). EAT thickness was related to ln(NT-proBNP) positively(P<0.05). After adjustment of related impact factors, EAT thickness was still related to ln(NT-proBNP) positively(P<0.05). Multiple-factor regression analysis showed that EAT thickness was the independent influence factor on LnNT-proBNP(P<0.05).CONCLUSION: EAT thickness and plasma NT-proBNP level are both increased significantly and is related to each other in the patients with stable coronary artery disease.