Assessment of coronary artery myocardial bridge and accompanied atherosclerosis in Uygur and Han adults of physical examination in southern Xinjiang region by using multi-slice spiral CT angiography

Abstract

Objective To analyze the incidence of mural coronary artery and the accompanied atherosclerosis in healthy Uygur and Han individuals in southern Xinjiang using coronary CT angiography (CCTA) and the differences in the location of mural coronary artery. Methods CCTA data of 3 461 Uygur and Han healthy people in the First People's Hospital of Kashgar from March 2016 to July 2016 including 1 987 Uygurs, 1 267 males and 720 females were retrospectively analyzed, with the age of 25 to 79 (48.43±10.61) years, and 1 474 Han subjects, 944 males and 530 females, aged 28-74 (47.79±10.56) years. The CT reconstructing techniques including curved planar reformation (CPR), maximum intensity projection (MIP) and volume rendering (VR) of the coronary arteries of each person were performed for detecting the incidence of mural coronary artery, and assessing the atherosclerosis accompanied by mural coronary artery as well as the distribution of mural coronary artery between Han and Uygur individuals. Results Among 3 461 healthy subjects, mural coronary arteries occurred in 1 111 by MSCT, accounting for 32.10% (1 111/3 461), including 506 Hans with an incidence of 34.32% (506/1 474), and 605 Uygurs with the incidence of 30.45% (605/1 987), and the incidence between two groups was statistically significant (χ2=5.846, P<0.05). Among 1 474 Hans, atherosclerosis was detected in proximal or distal segment of mural coronary arteries in 136 subjects, with an incidence of 9.23% (136/1 474), while among 1 987 Uygurs , totally 268 subjects suffered from this condition, with the incidence of 13.49% (268/1 987), and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant (χ2=14.902, P<0.01). Among 1 111 patients with mural coronary arteries, there were 1 001 patients in the left anterior descending branch, accounting for 90.09% (1 001/1 111), including 432 Hans and 569 Uygurs. Moreover, there were 42 patients occurred in the left circumflex branch, accounting for 3.78% (42/1 111), including 31 Hans and 11 Uygurs. There were 55 patients occurring in the first diagonal branch, accounting for 4.95% (55/1 111), including 37 Hans and 18 Uygurs. There were 5 patients presenting in the right coronary artery, accounting for 0.45% (5/1 111), including 3 Hans and 2 Uygurs. There were 8 patients with more than two arteries of atherosclerosis, including 3 Hans and 5 Uygurs, and the difference between two groups was statistically significant (χ2=26.552, P<0.01). Conclusions There are significant differences in the incidence of mural coronary arteries, atherosclerosis of mural coronary arteries, and distribution of mural coronary arteries between Uygur and Han healthy population in southern of Xinjiang region. Key words: Coronary artery disease; Myocardial bridge; Mural coronary artery; Tomography, spiral computed; Ethnic groups