Correlation between Epicardial Adipose Tissue and the Occurrence of Acute Coronary Syndrome Using 2D Transthoracic Echocardiography

Abstract Aims and Objective The aim of this thesis is to study the correlation between epicardial adipose tissue, as it’s measured by 2D echocardiography and the occurrence of acute coronary syndrome in the Egyptian population. Patients and Methods The study included 100 patients, all of which were presenting with chest pain and underwent coronary angiography followed by 2D echocardiography. The population was then subdivided according to angiographic findings; 50 Patients who had an angiographically significant stenosis over 50% and consequently underwent PCI, and 50 age-matched patients with their coronary angiography showing normal coronaries, as the control group. Results Our study has shown that epicardial adipose tissue was thicker in individuals presenting with acute coronary syndrome in comparison to the controls group. We also found that EAT showed a statistically significant and directly proportional relationship with HbA1C, RBS, weight, BMI (in the form of increasing weight and/or decreasing height) and TG. Conclusion Our study has revealed that measuring the thickness of EAT using 2D echocardiography showed that EAT was thicker in the patients group presenting with ACS than in the control group, with a cut- off value of 6.6mm. This non-invasive method could have the potential for predicting the occurrence of acute coronary syndrome.