title: The impact of motion artifacts on the reproducibility of repeated coronary artery calcium measurements.
abstract: The purpose of this study is, using a 16-section multidetector-row helical computed tomography (MDCT) scanner with retrospective reconstruction, to compare variability in repeated coronary calcium scoring and qualitative scores of the motion artifacts. One hundred forty-four patients underwent two subsequent scans using MDCT. According to Agatston and volume algorithms, the coronary calcium scores during mid-diastole (the center corresponding to 70% of the R-R cycle) were calculated and the inter-scan variability was obtained. Motion artifacts from coronary artery calcium were subjectively evaluated and classified using a 5-point scale: 1, excellent; no motion artifacts; 2, fine, minor motion artifacts; 3, moderate, mild motion artifacts; 4, bad, severe motion artifacts; 5, poor, doubling or discontinuity. Each reading was done by vessels (left main, left descending, left circumflex and right coronary arteries) and the motion artifact score (mean of the scales) was determined per patient. The variability in the low (1.2+/-0.2) and high (2.4+/-0.6) motion artifact score groups was 7+/-6 (median, 6)% and 19+/-15 (16)% on the Agatston score (P<0.01) and 7+/-7 (6)% and 16+/-13 (14)% on the volume score (P<0.01), respectively. In conclusion, motion has a significant impact on the reproducibility of coronary calcium scoring.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Radiology, Hiroshima University Hospital, Hiroshima 734-8551, Japan. horiguch@hiroshima-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Horiguchi
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fukuda
authors.forename: Hideya
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Nobuhiko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hirai
authors.forename: Farzana
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Alam
authors.forename: Hideaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kakizawa
authors.forename: Masashi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hieda
authors.forename: Toshihiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tachikake
authors.forename: Kazushi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Marukawa
authors.forename: Katsuhide
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ito
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016477:Artifacts; D002114:Calcinosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002118:Calcium / Q000032:analysis*; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D036542:Tomography, Spiral Computed
chemical_list: D002118:Calcium