Coronary Plaque Characteristics Differ in CKD Patients.

A recent study comparing the coronary plaque characteristics of patients with and without CKD using optical coherence tomography found that patients with CKD had a larger lipid index with a higher prevalence of calcium (50.8% vs. 34.8%), cholesterol crystals (23.0% vs. 11.2%), and coronary plaque disruption (13.1% vs. 5.5%). Lower eGFR was an independent risk factor for a larger lipid index. The 287-patient study found 402 plaques in 250 patients in the non-CKD group and 61 plaques in 37 patients in the CKD group. Thefindings are published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging.