title: High-definition computed tomography for coronary artery stent imaging: a phantom study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the performance of a high-definition CT (HDCT) for imaging small caliber coronary stents (≤ 3 mm) by comparing different scan modes of a conventional 64-row standard-definition CT (SDCT).
  
  
  METHODS
  A cardiac phantom with twelve stents (2.5 mm and 3.0 mm in diameter) was scanned by HDCT and SDCT. The scan modes were retrospective electrocardiography (ECG)-gated helical and prospective ECG-triggered axial with tube voltages of 120 kVp and 100 kVp, respectively. The inner stent diameters (ISD) and the in-stent attenuation value (AV(in-stent)) and the in-vessel extra-stent attenuation value (AV(in-vessel)) were measured by two observers. The artificial lumen narrowing (ALN = [ISD - ISD(measured)]/ISD) and artificial attenuation increase between in-stent and in-vessel (AAI = AV(in-stent) - AV(in-vessel)) were calculated. All data was analyzed by intraclass correlation and ANOVA-test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The correlation coefficient of ISD, AV(in-vessel) and AV(in-stent) between the two observers was good. The ALNs of HDCT were statistically lower than that of SDCT (30 ± 5.7% versus 35 ± 5.4%, p < 0.05). HDCT had statistically lower AAI values than SDCT (15.7 ± 81.4 HU versus 71.4 ± 90.5 HU, p < 0.05). The prospective axial dataset demonstrated smaller ALN than the retrospective helical dataset on both HDCT and SDCT (p < 0.05). Additionally, there were no differences in ALN between the 120 kVp and 100 kVp tube voltages on HDCT (p = 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High-definition CT helps improve measurement accuracy for imaging coronary stents compared to SDCT. HDCT with 100 kVp and the prospective ECG-triggered axial technique, with a lower radiation dose than 120 kVp application, may be advantageous in evaluating coronary stents with smaller calibers (≤ 3 mm).
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Rui Jin Hospital, Medical School, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200025, PR China.
authors.forename: Wen Jie
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Ke Min
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Li Fang
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Pang
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Jian Ying
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Huang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zi Lai
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: Pan
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D055424:Cardiac-Gated Imaging Techniques / Q000379:methods; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D015607:Stents; D036542:Tomography, Spiral Computed / Q000379:methods*