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. 2017 Jun 1;12(6):e0178508.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0178508. eCollection 2017.

vWF correlates with visceral and pericardial adipose tissue in patients with a recent stroke of suspected cardiogenic etiology

Antti Tapani Muuronen  1   2   3 , Mikko Taina  1   2 , Juha Onatsu  4 , Miika Korhonen  1   2 , Kari Pulkki  5   6 , Pekka Jäkälä  4   7 , Ritva Vanninen  1   2 , Pirjo Mustonen  3
Affiliations

vWF correlates with visceral and pericardial adipose tissue in patients with a recent stroke of suspected cardiogenic etiology

Antti Tapani Muuronen et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Aims: A chronically elevated level of von Willebrand factor (vWF) is a common finding in patients with cardiovascular diseases. Obesity is a well-recognized risk factor for thrombotic cardiovascular complications including ischemic stroke, and it has been linked with increased plasma vWF. We evaluated whether elevated plasma levels of vWF associate with areas of visceral (VAT), pericardial (PAT), and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) compartments in patients with acute/subacute stroke.

Methods and results: A total of 69 patients with stroke of suspected cardiogenic etiology were examined. The plasma level of vWF antigen (vWF-ag) was measured both in the acute phase and in the chronic phase three months after stroke. The areas of VAT and/or PAT were assessed with computed tomography. As expected, in stroke patients, the levels of plasma vWF-ag were significantly higher than in the national reference population both in the acute and in the chronic phase. The level of vWF-ag in the chronic phase correlated with the amounts of VAT and PAT, but not with subcutaneous adipose tissue.

Conclusions: These results agree with previous observations of the chronic inflammation/prothrombotic tendency in patients with cerebrovascular disease. Future studies should seek to clarify the role of visceral type adipose tissue in the pathophysiology of ischemic stroke.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Flow-chart of patient selection.
Fig 2
Fig 2. The correlations between chronic phase von Willebrand factor antigen and visceral (n = 57), pericardial (n = 62) and subcutaneous adipose tissue (n = 57).
Fig 3
Fig 3. The mean values and their 95% confidence intervals of von Willebrand factor antigen in male patients divided into three groups (n = 13 in each) according to tertiles (bottom, middle and upper tertile) of visceral, pericardial and subcutaneous adipose tissue in comparison to the national reference values.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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