A rosetta stone for coronary calcium risk stratification: agatston, volume, and mass scores in 11,490 individuals.
OBJECTIVE
We introduce stratification data for three methods (Agatston, volume, mass) obtained from one single patient population.


METHODS
Measurements in 11,490 individuals scanned from 1999 to 2002 with electron-beam CT were used for this study.


RESULTS
Our Agatston score ranges agree reasonably well with the Kondos values except for measurements in patients at the extreme ages, at which we sampled a wider age range and consequently had different biases of averages. Neither method is preferable because except for a small percentage of individuals near the dividing lines, stratification is the same for the three methods. When we matched them against a known "lesion" phantom, the Agatston and volume scores behave nonlinearly, and the latter grossly overestimates volume. The mass method is linear except for lesions near the edge of detectability and matches known volumes to within a small percentage.


CONCLUSIONS
We provide validated risk stratification data for use with mass scoring methods.
Rumberger
John A
JA
The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
Kaufman
Leon
L
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002114:Calcinosis / Q000145:classification* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D009202:Cardiomyopathies / Q000145:classification* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012397:Rosette Formation; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012737:Sex Factors; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed