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A 65-year-old man was followed for his coronary conditions using 320-multi detector row computed tomography (MDCT) for 30 months. He had soft plaque in the right coronary artery (RCA) [mean density of plaque was 22 hounsfield units (HU)]. His initial serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) was 72 mg/dL. After 30 months, his serum LDL-C was 26 mg/dL under 5.0 mg/day rosuvastatin and evolocumab 140 mg/2 weeks. MDCT showed a regression of the plaque in the RCA and the plaque density was 114 HU (intermediate plaque). In conclusion, intensive lipid-lowering therapy with evolocumab induced the regression and stabilization of coronary vulnerable plaque.

Background: Although a recent study in a Japanese cohort indicated that extremely high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C, ? 90 mg/dL) had an adverse effect on atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease mortality, we could not conclude that high levels of HDL-C were associated with the presence or severity of coronary artery disease (CAD). Methods: We enrolled 1,016 patients who were clinically suspected to have CAD and who underwent coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA). The number of significantly stenosed coronary vessels (vessel disease (VD), ? 50% coronary stenosis is diagnosed as CAD) and the Gensini score were quantified using CCTA, and the lipid profile was measured. The patients were divided into four groups according to the HDL-C level: < 40 mg/dL (n = 115, low), 40 - 59 mg/dL (n = 530, normal), 60 - 89 mg/dL (n = 335, high) and ? 90 mg/dL (n = 36, very-high). Results: The percentage (%) of CAD in the low, normal, high and very-high groups was 69%, 55%, 42% and 25%, respectively (P for trend < 0.01). The Gensini score in the low, normal, high and very-high groups was 20 ± 25, 12 ± 16, 8 ± 12 and 4 ± 6, respectively (P for trend < 0.01). The very-high group showed the lowest triglyceride (TG) levels among the four groups. There were no significant differences in the level of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol or % use of statin among the four groups. Finally, the presence of CAD was independently associated with a low level of HDL-C, in addition to age, male, high systolic blood pressure and hemoglobin A1c, but not TG, by a multivariate logistic regression analysis. Conclusions: High levels of HDL-C at the time of CCTA for screening were associated with a reduced presence and severity of CAD. J Clin Med Res. 2020;12(11):734-739 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/jocmr4367

Background Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is an essential component of care for patients with cardiovascular diseases (CVD). We aimed to evaluate clinical outcomes in outpatients with CVD who did and did not complete a 5-month CR program. Methods Three hundred thirty-two outpatients with CVD who participated in a 5-month CR program and were followed-up for maximum 5 years were registered. We divided the patients into two groups: those who completed the CR program (success group, n = 175) and those who could not (non-success group, n = 157). Both long-term (5 years) and short-term (5 months) clinical outcomes were compared between the two groups. Results There were no significant differences in patient characteristics at baseline between the success and non-success groups. With regard to both long-term and short-term clinical outcomes, the rates of all-cause death and hospital admission in the success group were significantly lower than those in the non-success group by a Kaplan-Meier analysis. There was a significant difference in short-term CVD death and hospital admission between the groups, but not for long-term CVD death and hospital. In long-term period, all-cause death and hospital admission was independently associated with completion of the CR program in addition to the presence of peripheral artery disease and VE vs. VCO2 slope after adjusting for age, gender, body mass index, types of CVD and medications. Conclusions Completion of a 5-month CR program was associated with the prevention of all-cause death and hospital admission, but not CVD death and hospital admission in the long-term, which suggests that we need to reconsider this issue.

We analyzed whether smoking was associated with major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) and the progression of coronary atherosclerosis as assessed by coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) as screening for coronary artery disease (CAD). We enrolled 443 patients who had all undergone CCTA and either were clinically suspected of having CAD or had at least one cardiovascular risk factor. We divided the patients into smoking (past and current smoker) and non-smoking groups and into males and females, and evaluated the presence of CAD, severity of coronary atherosclerosis and MACE (cardiovascular death, ischemic stroke, acute myocardial infarction and coronary revascularization) with a follow-up of up to 5 years. %CAD and the severity of coronary atherosclerosis in the smoking group were significantly higher than those in the non-smoking group. %MACE in males and smokers were significantly higher than those in females and non-smokers, respectively. Interestingly, Kaplan–Meier curves also showed that female non-smokers enjoyed significantly greater freedom from MACE than female smokers (p = 0.007), whereas there was no significant difference in freedom from MACE between male non-smokers and male smokers (p = 0.984). Although there were no significant predictors of MACE in all patients according to a multiple logistic regression analysis, smoking was useful for predicting MACE in females, but not males. In conclusion, smoking was significantly associated with MACE in females, but not males, who underwent CCTA as screening for CAD.

The associations between the presence and severity of coronary artery disease (CAD) and measurements of the psoas major muscle (PMM) as assessed by multidetector row coronary computed tomography angiography (MDCT) are not known. We enrolled 793 patients who were clinically suspected to have CAD or had at least one cardiac risk factor and had undergone MDCT. The number of significantly stenosed coronary vessels (VD) and measurements of the PMM index (PMMI) were determined using MDCT. PMMI in the CAD group was significantly lower than that in the non-CAD group in males, but not females. In addition, the levels of PMMI tended to increase as the number of VD decreased in males. When male patients were divided into 2 groups according to median value of age, that is, relatively younger (53.4 ± 9.2 years) and older (72.6 ± 5.7 years) groups, the presence of CAD was independently associated with PMMI in the younger group by a multiple logistic regression analysis. The cut-off level of PMMI that gave the greatest sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of CAD in younger males was 8.3 cm2/m2 (sensitivity 0.441, specificity 0.752). In conclusion, PMMI may be an imaging marker for evaluating the presence and/or severity of CAD in males, and particularly in the non-elderly.