title: Age-related differences in image quality of prospectively ECG-triggered axial and helical scans for coronary CT angiography.
abstract: We investigated the underlying reasons for the occurrence of misalignment artifacts in prospectively ECG-triggered axial coronary CT angiography scans. In this study we analyzed 56 consecutive patients scanned in axial mode and 66 consecutive patients scanned in helical mode. Predictors for the occurrence of misalignment artifacts were evaluated by multivariable logistic regression analysis for those patients scanned in the axial mode; advanced age was identified as the sole independent predictor (odds ratio: 1.088; 95 % CI: 1.012-1.170; p = 0.0228). In a comparison with the patients scanned in the helical mode, the image quality score for patients aged 65 years or older was significantly higher in helical mode than in axial mode (2.6 ± 0.5 and 2.4 ± 0.7, respectively; p = 0.0313). Misalignment artifacts in the image are more common in the elderly than in younger. Helical mode should be preferred in this older patient population to allow for good diagnostic image quality.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Medicine, Juntendo University, 2-1-1 Hongo Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8421, Japan. mtakase@juntendo.ac.jp.|Department of Radiological Technology, Juntendo Tokyo Koto Geriatric Medical Center, Tokyo, Japan. mtakase@juntendo.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takase
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Juntendo University, Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Shinichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fujimoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Juntendo University, Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuhisa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takamura
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Juntendo University, Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Haruyo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamashita
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiological Technology, Juntendo Tokyo Koto Geriatric Medical Center, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Uno
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Juntendo University, Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Shigeki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aoki
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D016477:Artifacts; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011786:Quality Control; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
keywords: Axial scan; Coronary computed tomographic angiography; Elderly patients; Helical scan; Misalignment artifacts