Correlation betweenEpicardial Fat Thickness and Severity of Coronary Artery Disease

Abstract

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a global burden and mortality leader worldwide. Atherosclerosis is considered to be the main cause for developing CAD.Many risk factors can predispose to CAD either are traditional as; (age, smoking status, hypertension (HTN), diabetes mellitus (DM), dyslipidemia), or non-traditional as; (C-reactive protein, homocysteine, HIV status, chronic inflammation, metabolic syndrome, and renal disease). CAD can be presented in various clinical pictures according to the grade of atherosclerosis and presence of one or many risk factors, especially if having CAD equivalent disease; DM, HTN, or chronic kidney disease. Myocardial infarction in form of STEMI and NSTEMI could be presented as a result of progressive pathophysiological changes to an atheromatous plaque in the culprit coronary’s intima, acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is a transitional stage between stable plaque causing chronic CAD and frankly ruptured atheroma causing partial or total lumen occlusion. Electrocardiography and echocardiography is considered of major importance to those patients presented by various clinical picture of CAD. Prevention of CAD mainly to avoid the previously mentioned risk factors, and to study further susceptible predisposing risk factors, knowing more about those factors can be beneficial in screening, early diagnosis, and effective management to this fatal disease.