Variability of repeated coronary artery calcium measurements by 16-MDCT with retrospective reconstruction.
OBJECTIVE
High reproducibility on coronary calcium scoring is an important factor in monitoring the progression of coronary atherosclerosis. The purposes of this study were, using a 16-MDCT scanner with retrospective reconstruction, to compare the effects of thin-slice images and overlapping image reconstruction on the reproducibility of coronary calcium scoring and to compare 16-MDCT with electron beam CT (EBCT).


METHODS
Fifty patients underwent two sequential examinations using both EBCT and MDCT. For MDCT, images were reconstructed from the same raw data using the following thicknesses and increments (thickness/increment): 1.25 mm/1.25 mm, 2.5 mm/2.5 mm, and 2.5 mm/1.25 mm. The Agatston, volume, and mass scores were calculated on four pairs of image sets. Statistical analysis was performed to determine significant differences in interscan variability among image acquisition protocols and among measurement algorithms.


RESULTS
Overlapping reconstructed images (thickness/increment, 2.5 mm/1.25 mm) obtained on a 16-MDCT scanner showed the lowest variability (mean, 13%; median, 10%) when compared with the Agatston score.


CONCLUSIONS
The use of 16-MDCT with overlapping reconstruction by retrospective reconstruction, yielding low variability of coronary artery calcium measurement on two sequential scans, has an advantage over EBCT in monitoring the progression of atherosclerosis.
Horiguchi
Jun
J
Department of Clinical Radiology, Hiroshima University Hospital, 1-2-3, Kasumi-cho, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8551, Japan. horiguch@hiroshima-u.ac.jp
Yamamoto
Hideya
H
Akiyama
Yuji
Y
Hirai
Nobuhiko
N
Marukawa
Kazushi
K
Fukuda
Hiroshi
H
Ito
Katsuhide
K
D000368:Aged; D002114:Calcinosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*