title: Prevalence of anatomical variants and coronary anomalies in 543 consecutive patients studied with 64-slice CT coronary angiography.
abstract: The aim of our study was to assess the prevalence of variants and anomalies of the coronary artery tree in patients who underwent 64-slice computed tomography coronary angiography (CT-CA) for suspected or known coronary artery disease. A total of 543 patients (389 male, mean age 60.5 +/- 10.9) were reviewed for coronary artery variants and anomalies including post-processing tools. The majority of segments were identified according to the American Heart Association scheme. The coronary dominance pattern results were: right, 86.6%; left, 9.2%; balanced, 4.2%. The left main coronary artery had a mean length of 112 +/- 55 mm. The intermediate branch was present in the 21.9%. A variable number of diagonals (one, 25%; two, 49.7%; more than two, 24%; none, 1.3%) and marginals (one, 35.2%; two, 46.2%; more than two, 18%; none, 0.6%) was visualized. Furthermore, CT-CA may visualize smaller branches such as the conus branch artery (98%), the sinus node artery (91.6%), and the septal branches (93%). Single or associated coronary anomalies occurred in 18.4% of the patients, with the following distribution: 43 anomalies of origin and course, 68 intrinsic anomalies (59 myocardial bridging, nine aneurisms), three fistulas. In conclusion, 64-slice CT-CA provides optimal visualization of the variable and complex anatomy of coronary arteries because of the improved isotropic spatial resolution and flexible post-processing tool.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and Cardiology, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Parma, Parma, Italy. filippocademartiri@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Filippo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cademartiri
authors.forename: Ludovico
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: La Grutta
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Malagò
authors.forename: Filippo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Alberghina
authors.forename: Willem B
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Meijboom
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pugliese
authors.forename: Erica
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Maffei
authors.forename: Anselmo Alessandro
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Palumbo
authors.forename: Annachiara
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aldrovandi
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fusaro
authors.forename: Valerio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Brambilla
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Coruzzi
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Midiri
authors.forename: Nico R A
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Mollet
authors.forename: Gabriel P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Krestin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003287:Contrast Media; D017023:Coronary Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D003326:Coronary Circulation; D003330:Coronary Vessel Anomalies / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007479:Iopamidol / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; C057937:iomeprol; D007479:Iopamidol