ABSTRACT
Objective To measure the volume of pericardial adipose tissue (PAT) by a photons dual-source computed tomography (CT) (Somatom Definition Flash CT), and to analyze and evaluate the effects of pericardial adipose tissue volume on coronary artery imaging. Methods There were 123 patients with suspected coronary heart disease (CHD) who underwent CT coronary angiography (CTA) from February 2016 to August 2016 in our hospital were enrolled. According to the body mass index (BMI) of the patient, the tube current was set in the range of 100～400 mA and tube voltage was 100～120 kV. All the patients were divided into six groups from low to high based on the measured pericardial adipose tissue volumes. The coronary CTA imaging quality was evaluated by subjective scoring and objective comparison by calculating the signal-to-noise ratio and comparing the contrast-to-noise ratio. Statistical analysis was performed using Kmskal-Wallis rank sum test and Pearson correlation analysis. Results There was no significant difference in subjective scoring between different PAT groups (all P>0.05). There was no significant correlation between PAT content and signal-noise ratio and contrast noise ratio (P>0.05). Conclusions The pericardial adipose tissue volume has no significant effect on coronary artery CTA imaging.