Evidence mapPaperPMID 41816474Full record

ArticleJournal of thoracic disease2026

Pericoronary fat attenuation index predicts vulnerable plaque and adverse outcomes in coronary heart disease.

Fei-Fei Luo, Yue Zhang, Min Huang, Nonthikorn Theerasuwipakorn, Basel Abdelazeem, Jin-Chun Zhang

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Article in Journal of thoracic disease, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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5 · Who and what money

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6 authors.

Fei-Fei Luo *Department of Electrocardiographic Room, Wuhan Fourth Hospital, Wuhan, China.
Yue Zhang *Department of Internal Medicine-Cardiovascular, Shanghai Pudong New Area People's Hospital, Shanghai, China.
Min HuangDepartment of General Practice, The Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, China.
Nonthikorn TheerasuwipakornDivision of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Cardiac Center, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand.
Basel AbdelazeemDepartment of Cardiology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA.
Jin-Chun ZhangDepartment of Cardiovascular Intervention, Chongming Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Shanghai, China.

Funding

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6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Noncalcified coronary plaque is prone to rupture and may lead to major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs). The pericoronary fat attenuation index (FAI), derived from coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA), is an emerging marker of coronary inflammation. This study aimed to assess the predictive value of the FAI for vulnerable plaque and prognosis in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). Methods: We retrospectively enrolled 453 patients with CHD who underwent CCTA and were followed for 3 years. Patients were divided into a MACE group (n=103) and a control group (n=350) based on the occurrence of MACEs. The FAI was measured using artificial intelligence software at the site of the most severe coronary stenosis. Clinical characteristics, coronary plaque burden, and FAI were compared between groups. Multivariate logistic regression identified independent predictors of MACEs, and a nomogram prediction model was developed and validated. Results: Patients with MACEs had significantly higher age, greater total and noncalcified plaque burden, lower left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), higher FAI, and a greater prevalence of the multivessel disease. Independent predictors of MACEs included age ≥80 years [relative risk (RR) 12.39, 95% confident interval (CI): 5.75-26.69], LVEF <50% (RR 8.73, 95% CI: 4.10-18.58), total coronary plaque burden >33.3% (RR 4.27, 95% CI: 2.23-8.18), increased FAI (RR 1.08, 95% CI: 1.05-1.11), and multivessel disease (RR 3.14, 95% CI: 1.67-5.90) with all P<0.001. The nomogram model demonstrated strong predictive performance, with area under the curve (AUC) values of 0.920 and 0.862 in the training and validation sets, respectively. FAI was significantly correlated with noncalcified plaque burden (r=0.234, P<0.001). Conclusions: FAI is associated with coronary noncalcified plaque burden and is an independent predictor of MACEs in patients with CHD. A prediction model incorporating the FAI demonstrated promising efficacy in identifying high-risk patients, supporting its potential role in personalized risk stratification.

Indexed as

Coronary artery disease (CAD)fat attenuation index (FAI)major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs)pericoronary adipose tissuevulnerable plaque

Identifiers

PMID41816474
PMCPMC12972791

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.