Achilles Tendon Thickening as a Risk Factor of Cardiovascular Events after Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

AIM: The Achilles tendon (AT) thickening may be affected by several factors (e.g., lipid disorders or age). This study aims to determine the prevalence rate of AT thickening in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and investigate the correlation between AT thickening and the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). METHODS: The clinical records of 887 patients who had undergone successful PCI and measured Achilles tendon thickness (ATT) using soft X-ray radiographs were retrospectively examined. Subjects were divided into two groups depending on the presence or absence of AT thickening. AT thickening was defined as having ATT of ＞8.0 and ＞7.5 mm in men and women, respectively. Among the two groups, the incidence of MACE was measured for a maximum of 5 years after PCI. MACE was defined as cardiovascular mortality, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or revascularization due to restenosis or the increase of stenosis in other lesions. RESULTS: This study found that 241 (27.2%) patients have AT thickening. Patients with AT thickening had higher low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels. In addition, the Kaplan-Meier curve with a log-rank test demonstrated that patients with AT thickening had a significantly higher incidence of MACE. Furthermore, the multivariate analysis indicated that the presence of AT thickening was independently correlated with the incidence of MACE after PCI. CONCLUSION: A high percentage of patients with CAD were found to have AT thickening. In addition, the presence of AT thickening was significantly associated with a higher incidence of MACE, independent of LDL-C levels.