title: Determining the proportion of coronary segments assessable on 16-slice CT coronary angiography: a brief report.
abstract: Computed tomography coronary angiography (CT-CA) is becoming a popular non-invasive coronary imaging method. We aimed to determine the proportion of coronary segments assessable on a 16-slice CT in comparison with conventional selective coronary angiography (SCA). We identified all patients who had both 16-slice CT-CA and recent SCA (less than 12 months) from March 2004 to July 2005. Two CT reporters blinded to SCA independently classified coronary segment assessability on CT-CA. A cardiologist blinded to CT findings classified assessability of coronary segments on SCA. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and proportion of agreement. Ninety-five study pairs were included in the analysis. Of those, 1161 coronary segments were deemed assessable on SCA and 1103 segments (95%) were also assessable on CT-CA. Nonassessable segments on CT-CA were predominantly in the distal segments and branches of coronary arteries. Reasons for nonassessability were small calibre (48.3%), motion artefacts (20.7%) and poorly reconstructed segments (22.4%). The 16-slice CT was able to assess a high proportion of but not all coronary segments. Nonassessable segments were predominantly distal segments or branches of coronary arteries. Motion artefacts due to heart-rate changes, small calibre and poorly reconstructed images were main causes of nonassessability on 16-slice CT-CA.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Cardiovascular Therapeutics, Western Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. soonkh@yahoo.com
authors.forename: K  H
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Soon
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cox
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Chaitowitz
authors.forename: K  W
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Eccleston
authors.forename: A-M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016477:Artifacts; D017023:Coronary Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D003326:Coronary Circulation; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed