Periaortic Fat Attenuation on Nongated Noncontrast Chest CT Images to Assess Changes in Arterial Inflammation: Impact of Atorvastatin | Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging
BACKGROUND: Imaging markers of atherosclerotic inflammation are needed to enhance cardiovascular risk assessment and evaluate the impact of therapies. We sought to test the hypothesis that treatments impacting arterial inflammation can be evaluated using a simplified measure of periaortic fat attenuation (FA) assessed on noncontrast, nongated computed tomography (CT) of the descending thoracic aorta. METHODS: Measurements were performed on 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/CT images from a double-blind, randomized trial conducted between 2008 and 2009 that assessed the impact of statin therapy on arterial inflammation. Periaortic adipose tissue quantification was performed on the chest CT images over a 10 cm portion of the descending aorta. FA was determined as the mean attenuation of the entire volume of delineated periaortic fat. Arterial inflammation (aorta) and leukopoietic activity (bone marrow and spleen) were assessed by measuring standardized uptake values on
