ObjectiveEpicardial adipose tissue directly affects coronary arteries and myocardium due to its special anatomical position and physiological function, but its exact effects in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) have yet to be confirmed. In this paper, the epicardial adipose tissue volume (EATV) was quantitatively measured by Multi-slice spiral computed tomography (MSCT) to evaluate the correlation between EATV and coronary atherosclerosis in patients with T2DM.MethodsThe clinical data of 172 patients with coronary heart disease and coronary artery computed tomographic angiography (CCTA) were retrospectively analyzed in the first affiliated hospital of Anhui medical university from December 2015 to March 2018. According to the diagnostic criteria for CHD and T2DM, the patients included in the study were divided into the CHD group (45 cases), the T2DM group (44 cases), the T2DM group (42 cases) and the control group (41 cases). The clinical data was measured and recorded such as gender, age, blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and other relevant clinical data in each group. EATV was measured by CT post-processing workstation. Compared the differences of related data between groups, it was analyzed the risk factors of diabetes mellitus complicated with coronary heart disease by Logistic regression. The degree of coronary artery stenosis was quantified by Gensini, and analyzed its correlation with EATV. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to determine the suspicious value range of EATV.ResultsIn the CHD group, the diabetes group and the diabetic CHD group, EATV, LDL-C and TC were all higher than those in the control group respectively [(150.10±31.64)cm3, (145.56±37.89)cm3, (167.07±40.00)cm3 vs (115.44±27.95）cm3;（2.44±0.88) mmol/L, (2.47±0.86）mmol/L, （2.50±0.97) mmol/L vs (1.90±0.59) mmol/L; (4.19±0.99) mmol/L, (4.43±0.95）mmol/L,（4.32±1.57）mmol/L vs （3.70±0.59）mmol/L], with statistically significant differences (P<0.05). TG level in the diabetes group was higher than that in the control group [（2.18±1.54）mmol/L vs （1.32±0.61）mmol/L] (P<0.05). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that EATV, age and BMI were independent risk factors for diabetes mellitus with coronary heart disease. The Gensini integral of coronary artery stenosis was positively correlated with EATV (r=0.528, P=0.000). The ROC curve showed that EATV had a high predictive value for coronary heart disease in diabetic patients (AUC=0.767).ConclusionEATV was positively correlated with the severity of coronary heart disease in diabetic patients. The determination of EATV by MSCT has good repeatability and is worthy of clinical promotion.