title: New approach to noninvasive coronary angiography by multidetector computed tomography: initial experience using gadolinium.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the gadolinium performance for 16-detector-row coronary computed tomography (CT) angiography.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ethics committee approval and informed consent were obtained. Ten patients with coronary artery disease underwent digital coronary angiography and gadolinium-enhanced CT coronary angiography (Gd-CTCA) within the same week. For the Gd-CTCA, each patient received a dose of 0.3 mmol/kg of body weight of 0.5 mmol/mL gadoterate meglumine. Two readers interpreted the CT angiographies independently, and their results were matched with the digital angiography findings. The diagnostic accuracy of Gd-CTCA was calculated by the exact binomial method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were for observer 1: 91.67%, 98.73%, 84.62%, and 99.36%, and for observer 2: 83.33%, 98.73%, 83.33%, and 98.73%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Preliminary results demonstrated that gadolinium chelates may be used as an alternative CT contrast media in coronary CT angiographies, without detriment to diagnosis results.
authors.affiliation: Department of Computed Tomography, Diagnóstico Maipú, Buenos Aires, Argentina. investigacion@diagnosticomaipu.com.ar
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Carrascosa
authors.forename: Pablo Garcia
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Merletti
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Capuñay
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Goldsmit
authors.forename: Marcelo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bettinotti
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Carrascosa
mesh_terms: D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D003287:Contrast Media; D017023:Coronary Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008536:Meglumine; D008875:Middle Aged; D009942:Organometallic Compounds; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D009942:Organometallic Compounds; D008536:Meglumine; C072417:gadoterate meglumine