Carotid plaque inflammation is associated with inflammatory-driven glucose metabolism of visceral adipose tissue

초록

Background and Aims: Visceral adipose tissue is thought to confer increased cardiovascular risk through leukocyte infiltration and increased adipose macrophage activity. We hypothesized that active atherosclerotic change in the major arteries would accompany increased inflammation within visceral fat and it could be detected using FDG PET/computed tomography (CT) Methods: We observed 44 consecutive subjects with cardiovascular disease. For all of them, an one-hour PET/CT was performed after injection of FDG. FDG uptake in the aorta or its major branches was evaluated. Maximal standardized uptake values (SUV) of the highest regions of interest were calculated in the subcutaneous adipose fat and visceral fat area, separately. Results: Significant FDG uptake in the arterial wall was noted in 21 patients (plaque positive; PP group), all of whom have experienced acute cardiovascular events (acute coronary syndrome or ischemic stroke) within a week. The other 23 patients (plaque negative; PN group) had chronic stable angina or asymptomatic carotid stenosis. Visceral fat SUV was significantly higher as compared to subcutaneous fat SUV (p < 0.001) in PP group, whereas there was no significant difference in PN group (p = 0.622). When we compared two groups, PP group showed higher visceral fat SUV than PN group (p < 0.001). Subcutaneous fat SUV was similar in two groups (p = 0.773) Conclusions: Atherosclerotic plaque inflammation was associated with increased inflammation within visceral fat. Further evaluation to determine whether metabolic activity of visceral adipose tissue is a marker of mediator of vascular inflammation is needed.