Cefalù Angelo Baldassare, Nardi Emilio, Giammanco Antonina, Gagliardo Carola Maria, Barbagallo Carlo Maria, La Grutta Ludovico, Toia Patrizia, Brucato Federica, Scrimali Chiara, Fasciana Teresa Maria Grazia, Spina Rossella, Lanza Marina, Vitale Francesco, Noto Davide, Averna Maurizio
Department of Health Promotion, Mother and Child Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties "G. D'Alessandro" (PROMISE), University of Palermo, Via del Vespro 129, 90127 Palermo, Italy.
Section of Radiology, Department of Biomedicine, Neurosciences and Advanced Diagnostics (BiND), University Hospital "Paolo Giaccone", 90127 Palermo, Italy.
Life (Basel). 2025 Mar 20;15(3):506. doi: 10.3390/life15030506.
BACKGROUND: Patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH) are at a high risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. The coronary artery calcification (CAC) score by the Ct-scan Agatston calcium score (ACS) > 100 classifies FH at a higher risk. The echocardiographic calcium score (ECS) evaluates aortic valve calcifications and is considered a good predictor of the atherosclerotic burden and cardiovascular outcome. OBJECTIVE: To test the ECS as a predictor of ACS > 100 in a HeFH cohort. METHODS: A coronary calcium CT scan with the calculation of ACS and an at rest-transthoracic echocardiogram with ECS evaluation were performed in 81 HeFH patients. Patients were divided into two groups according to the ACS: high-risk ACS patients (High-ACS) with Agatston value > 100 and low risk ACS patients (Low-ACS) with Agatston value ≤ 100. Patients were stratified according to ECS = 0 or ECS > 0. RESULTS: High-ACS patients were older than Low-ACS patients; BMI, waist circumference, and blood systolic pressure were significantly higher ( < 0.001) in High-ACS patients. The ECS predicted an ACS > 100 with sensitivity = 0.84, specificity = 0.89, accuracy = 0.86, and precision = 0.76. CONCLUSIONS: The ECS could be a good surrogate of a coronary calcium CT scan for ACS evaluation in the specific subset of HeFH patients.
JACC Cardiovasc Imaging. 2021-12
Curr Atheroscler Rep. 2023-12
J Am Coll Cardiol. 2020-5-26
J Am Coll Cardiol. 2020-5-26