Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Cardiology

Background :There is an increasing interest in new markers of atherosclerosis, that may help diagnose CVD at an early stage. Vascular calcifications (VC) are often present in the early stages of atherogenesis, and could be considered an early marker.calcifications are often clinically assessed in a single district e.g. the coronary arteries or the femoral artery and that might not reflect the overall peripheral calcium load. Methods: the study included 100 patients with symptomatic coronary artery disease presented to cardiovascular department. They all underwent conventional coronary angiography. Eighty five patients of them underwent non contrast CT to the heart and lower limbs as well to estimate coronary and lower limb arterial calcification. The remaining 15 patients underwent CT to lower limbs only (had history of coronary stent implantation with resultant inaccurate CT evaluation).Results: There was a borderline significant difference in total lower limb Agatston and aortoiliacAgatston among the tertiles of Gensini with total lower limb agatston and aorto-iliac Agatston being lowest in the first Gensinitertile, and highest in the third Gensinitertile (Chi-square statistic =5.54, and 5.99 respectively, p-value =.06, and.05 respectively),There was significant difference regarding total coronary Agatston (Chi-square statistic =7.95, p value =.02)

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