Association between Vascular Calcification and Intraplaque Hemorrhage in Coronary Atherosclerosis from Autopsy: The Hisayama Study.

AIMS: Vascular calcification is observed in advanced atherosclerotic lesions. Vascular calcification is considered to increase the risk of intraplaque hemorrhage and subsequent plaque destabilization; however, there is limited pathohistoological evidence of the association between vascular calcification and intraplaque hemorrhage. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between vascular calcification and intraplaque hemorrhage in the coronary arteries.

METHODS: We examined 374 coronary arteries obtained from the autopsy samples of 126 deceased individuals. The vascular calcification levels of each artery were categorized into no calcification and quintiles of calcification area size among the arteries with calcification. Macrophage infiltration and neovascularization were also evaluated. The association of the calcification area, macrophage area, or number of vessels with the presence of intraplaque hemorrhage in the coronary arteries was estimated using a logistic regression analysis.

RESULTS: Calcification lesions were observed in 149 coronary arteries. Arteries in the fourth quintile of calcification area size had a significantly greater likelihood of intraplaque hemorrhage than the arteries without calcification, after adjusting for confounders: odds ratio 13.13 (95% confidence interval: 2.97-58.16). After evaluating the influence of macrophage infiltration, the highest odds ratio of intraplaque hemorrhage was associated with the combination of large macrophage area and moderately sized calicification areas. The odds ratio of intraplaque hemorrhage additively increased with the combination of calcification and the number of vessels.

CONCLUSIONS: The present findings suggest that vascular calcification is significantly associated with intraplaque hemorrhage. The association between vascular calcification and intraplaque hemorrhage may decrease above a certain size of the calcification area.