Coronary artery calcium scoring using 16-MDCT and a retrospective ECG-gating reconstruction algorithm.
OBJECTIVE
Our aim was to compare detection, quantification, and cardiovascular risk stratification of coronary artery calcium (CAC) between electron beam CT and 16-MDCT with retrospective reconstruction. SUBJECTS AND METHODS. One hundred patients underwent both electron beam CT and 16-MDCT, and coronary artery calcium score, volume, and mass were obtained.


RESULTS
Correlation between the two CT scanners was high for both calcium score (r(2) = 0.955), volume (r(2) = 0.952), and mass (r(2) = 0.977). Although electron beam CT is viewed as the gold standard, the sensitivity and specificity in the detection of CAC using 16-MDCT with a threshold of 130 H were 98.7% and 100%, respectively. The variability of calcium scores between the two CT scanners (26.5%) was comparable with two electron beam CT scanners reported previously. The variability of calcium volume (20.7%) and mass (20.3%) was lower than that of the score (Student's t test, r = 0.05, 0.01). In clinical cardiovascular risk stratification based on two CT calcium scores, the Cohen's kappa value was 0.929. There was no significant difference between the two scanners using Wilcoxon's signed rank test (p = 0.157).


CONCLUSIONS
The 16-MDCT scanner with retrospective reconstruction, showing high agreement for detection and quantification of CAC with electron beam CT, holds promise in the detection of coronary artery atherosclerosis.
Horiguchi
Jun
J
Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3, Kasumi-cho, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8551, Japan. horiguch@hiroshima-u.ac.jp
Yamamoto
Hideya
H
Akiyama
Yuji
Y
Marukawa
Kazushi
K
Hirai
Nobuhiko
N
Ito
Katsuhide
K
D000465:Algorithms; D002114:Calcinosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000473:pathology; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed