title: Coronary artery stents: influence of adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction on image quality using 64-HDCT.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The assessment of coronary stents with present-generation 64-detector row computed tomography (HDCT) scanners is limited by image noise and blooming artefacts. We evaluated the performance of adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction (ASIR) for noise reduction in coronary stent imaging with HDCT.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In 50 stents of 28 patients (mean age 64 ± 10 years) undergoing coronary CT angiography (CCTA) on an HDCT scanner the mean in-stent luminal diameter, stent length, image quality, in-stent contrast attenuation, and image noise were assessed. Studies were reconstructed using filtered back projection (FBP) and ASIR-FBP composites. ASIR resulted in reduced image noise vs. FBP (P < 0.0001). Two readers graded the CCTA stent image quality on a 4-point Likert scale and determined the proportion of interpretable stent segments. The best image quality for all clinical images was obtained with 40 and 60% ASIR with significantly larger luminal area visualization compared with FBP (+42.1 ± 5.4% with 100% ASIR vs. FBP alone; P < 0.0001) while the stent length was decreased (-4.7 ± 0.9%, <P = 0.002) and volume measurements were unaffected.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Reconstruction of CCTA from HDCT using 40 and 60% ASIR incrementally improves intra-stent luminal area, diameter visualization, and image quality compared with FBP reconstruction.
authors: Department of Radiology, Cardiac Imaging, University Hospital Zurich, Ramistrasse 100, NUK C 42, CH-8091 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors: Cathérine
authors: C
authors: Gebhard
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Fiechter
authors: Tobias A
authors: TA
authors: Fuchs
authors: Julia
authors: J
authors: Stehli
authors: Ennio
authors: E
authors: Müller
authors: Barbara E
authors: BE
authors: Stähli
authors: Caroline E
authors: CE
authors: Gebhard
authors: Jelena R
authors: JR
authors: Ghadri
authors: Bernd
authors: B
authors: Klaeser
authors: Oliver
authors: O
authors: Gaemperli
authors: Philipp A
authors: PA
authors: Kaufmann
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015906:Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D015331:Cohort Studies; D017023:Coronary Angiography / Q000379:methods; D023921:Coronary Stenosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D061330:Multidetector Computed Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D015588:Observer Variation; D011786:Quality Control; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D015607:Stents
keywords: Adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction; Coronary CT angiography; Coronary artery stent