scholarly journals Perivascular Fat Imaging by Computed Tomography: A Virtual Guide

Author(s):  
Christos P. Kotanidis ◽  
Charalambos Antoniades
Dermatology ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Wenrui Bao ◽  
Min Yang ◽  
Zhihan Xu ◽  
Fuhua Yan ◽  
Qi Yang ◽  
...  

<b><i>Objectives:</i></b> This study aimed to evaluate coronary inflammation by measuring the perivascular fat attenuation index (FAI) and quantify the atherosclerosis burden in patients with psoriasis and control individuals without psoriasis based on coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) images. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> A total of 98 consecutive patients with psoriasis (76 male [77.6%], aged 56.5 years, range 45.5–65.0) were recruited, and 196 patients (157 male [80.1%]; aged 54.6 ± 14.1 years) without established cardiovascular disease (CVD) who underwent CCTA within the same period were enrolled in the control group. Coronary plaque burden was quantified using the computed tomography-adapted Leaman score (CT-LeSc), and the FAI surrounding the proximal of three main epicardial vessels was measured to represent coronary inflammation. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Patients with psoriasis and the control subjects were well matched in CVD risk factors (all <i>p</i> &#x3e; 0.05). Psoriasis patients had a greater overall CT-LeSc (5.86 vs. 4.69, <i>p</i> = 0.030) and lower perivascular FAI (−80.19 ± 7.48 vs. −78.14 ± 7.81 HU, <i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.001). A similar result was found upon comparing psoriasis patients without biological or statin therapy with non-psoriasis individuals without statin treatments. Furthermore, the psoriasis group had a higher prevalence of non-calcified plaques (30.3% in the psoriasis group vs. 20.1% in the control subjects, <i>p</i> = 0.001). No difference in perivascular FAI on either calcified and mixed plaques or non-calcified plaques between the two groups was found. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> Patients with psoriasis have a higher atherosclerotic burden as quantified by CT-LeSc and less coronary inflammation as detected by perivascular FAI around the most proximal of the three major epicardial vessels. The usefulness of perivascular FAI for evaluating coronary inflammation in patients with chronic low-grade inflammatory disease such as psoriasis should be verified.


Author(s):  
H.W. Deckman ◽  
B.F. Flannery ◽  
J.H. Dunsmuir ◽  
K.D' Amico

We have developed a new X-ray microscope which produces complete three dimensional images of samples. The microscope operates by performing X-ray tomography with unprecedented resolution. Tomography is a non-invasive imaging technique that creates maps of the internal structure of samples from measurement of the attenuation of penetrating radiation. As conventionally practiced in medical Computed Tomography (CT), radiologists produce maps of bone and tissue structure in several planar sections that reveal features with 1mm resolution and 1% contrast. Microtomography extends the capability of CT in several ways. First, the resolution which approaches one micron, is one thousand times higher than that of the medical CT. Second, our approach acquires and analyses the data in a panoramic imaging format that directly produces three-dimensional maps in a series of contiguous stacked planes. Typical maps available today consist of three hundred planar sections each containing 512x512 pixels. Finally, and perhaps of most import scientifically, microtomography using a synchrotron X-ray source, allows us to generate maps of individual element.


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