title: Assessment of calcified carotid plaque volume: comparison of contrast-enhanced dual-energy CT angiography and native single-energy CT.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to compare estimates of calcified plaque volume in the carotid arteries based on contrast-enhanced dual-energy CT angiograms with volume estimates based on native CT scans.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Detection of hard plaque in the carotid arteries with dual-energy CT angiography was successful in all patients. Estimates of calcified plaque volume based on dual-energy CT angiograms correlated well with those based on native single-energy CT scans but at a lower attenuation threshold (130 HU as opposed to 180 HU) were underestimates compared with those on the native CT scans.
authors: Department of Radiology, National Cardiovascular Center, Osaka, Japan. watanabe@radiol.med.osaka-u.ac.jp
authors: Yoshiyuki
authors: Y
authors: Watanabe
authors: Tetsuro
authors: T
authors: Nakazawa
authors: Masahiro
authors: M
authors: Higashi
authors: Toshihide
authors: T
authors: Itoh
authors: Hiroaki
authors: H
authors: Naito