Determinants of high cardiovascular risk in relation to plaque-composition of a non-culprit coronary segment visualized by near-infrared spectroscopy in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between clinical and blood characteristics of a vascular inflammatory milieu and coronary plaque composition visualized by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) in percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) patients. Between April 2009 and January 2011, we performed NIRS in 208 patients who underwent PCI or invasive diagnostic coronary exploration for various indications. Imaging was performed of one non-intervened coronary segment after the initial procedure. Univariate and multivariate linear regression analyses were applied to evaluate the relationship between the acquired NIRS-derived lipid core burden index (LCBI) and clinical and blood (lipids and hs-C-reactive protein) characteristics. Patients with a history of hypercholesterolaemia [median 48 (inter-quartile range 21101) vs. 38 (1370), P 0.043] and multi-vessel disease [55 (24104) vs. 32 (1271), P 0.012] had higher LCBI levels. Men had higher LCBI than women [48 (2195) vs. 27 (959), P 0.003]. Hypercholesterolaemia and gender remained significant in multivariate regression analysis, whereas also a history of non-cardiac vascular disease and beta-blockers were positively associated with LCBI. Altogether 23.2 of the variability in LCBI could be explained by clinical and blood characteristics. Clinical characteristics reflecting patients with a high cardiovascular risk profile explained 23.2 of the variability in LCBI, whereas blood biomarkers added little. Further research is warranted to evaluate whether NIRS has the potential to provide additional prognostic information about patients cardiovascular risk.