Characteristics of coronary artery atherosclerotic plaques in chronic kidney disease: evaluation with coronary CT angiography

Abstract

To determine the characteristics of coronary artery atherosclerotic plaques in chronic kidney disease (CKD) with coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA). Sixty-six patients with CKD who underwent coronary CTA were analysed retrospectively. The extent, distribution, and types of plaques and stenosis severity were evaluated. The imaging features were compared between dialysis and non-dialysis groups. In the dialysis group, the imaging features were compared between diabetes and non-diabetes patients. In total, 152 coronary vessels (2.3±1.3 per patient) and 306 segments (4.6±3.5 per patient) were found to have plaques. The most common diseased coronary vessel was the left anterior descending (LAD) artery (53 vessels, 34.9%) followed by the left circumflex (LCX) artery (39 vessels, 25.7%), and right coronary artery (RCA; 37 vessels, 24.3%) in sequence. The most commonly involved coronary artery segment was the middle segment of LAD artery (14.1%). Calcified plaques (65.9%) were detected more frequently than mixed (25.6%) or non-calcified (8.5%) plaques (p<0.001). Among the degrees of coronary stenosis, minimal stenosis (55.8%) was the most common (p<0.001). The majority of calcified plaques were non-obstructive plaques (n=134, 78.2%), while about half of non-calcified (n=14, 63.6%) and mixed plaques (n=30, 45.5%) were obstructive plaques (p<0.001). A heavy plaque burden was detected in CKD patients at coronary CTA. Non-obstructive calcified plaque was the most common imaging feature. CKD patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus had more obstructive mixed plaques.