Many investigators have reported that the total amount of coronary calcium correlates with the overall magnitude of atherosclerotic plaque burden in the entire coronary tree and is a powerful predictor of future cardiovascular events. However, the development and spatial distribution of coronary calcifications remain unclear. We investigated the spatial distribution of calcifications throughout the coronary tree during coronary artery evaluation using coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA). A further aim was to assess the progression of existing calcifications and the development of new deposits in a follow-up study. The study population consisted of 287 patients for the cross-sectional study using CTA to evaluate the spatial distribution of calcifications by parent coronary arteries. Next, we analyzed a CTA dataset of 57 patients who had undergone two CTA examinations. In this group, the two CTA images were used for assessing the progression of existing calcifications and the development of new deposits. The coronary calcifications tended to be clustered within the proximal and middle portions. Moreover, in the proximal left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD), small calcifications were located more toward the inner pericardial side. Finally, new calcium deposits developed within the proximal and middle portions of the LAD and left circumflex coronary artery, but those in the right coronary artery were likely to appear evenly from the proximal to the distal portion. This study shows the characteristic patterns of the longitudinal and circumferential distribution of calcifications by parent coronary arteries.
Keywords: Atherosclerosis; Calcium; Computed tomography; Coronary artery.