The impact of motion artifacts on the reproducibility of repeated coronary artery calcium measurements.
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.
Horiguchi
Jun
J
Department of Clinical Radiology, Hiroshima University Hospital, Hiroshima 734-8551, Japan. horiguch@hiroshima-u.ac.jp
Fukuda
Hiroshi
H
Yamamoto
Hideya
H
Hirai
Nobuhiko
N
Alam
Farzana
F
Kakizawa
Hideaki
H
Hieda
Masashi
M
Tachikake
Toshihiro
T
Marukawa
Kazushi
K
Ito
Katsuhide
K
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
D002118:Calcium