title: Variability of repeated coronary artery calcium measurements by 16-MDCT with retrospective reconstruction.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Radiology, Hiroshima University Hospital, 1-2-3, Kasumi-cho, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8551, Japan. horiguch@hiroshima-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Horiguchi
authors.forename: Hideya
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Akiyama
authors.forename: Nobuhiko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hirai
authors.forename: Kazushi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Marukawa
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fukuda
authors.forename: Katsuhide
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ito
mesh_terms: 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*