title: Role of Cardiac Computed Tomography in the Evaluation of Coronary Artery Stenosis in Patients With Ascending Aorta Aneurysm Detected at Transthoracic Echocardiography.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of our study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of cardiac computed tomography (CCT) in the evaluation of coronary artery stenosis in patients with ascending aorta aneurysm detected at transthoracic echocardiography.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a retrospective analysis of patients with an aneurysm 45 mm or greater at transthoracic echocardiography who underwent CCT from 2012 to 2014 in our hospital. We calculated the sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of CCT for the assessment of coronary artery stenosis (<50% or ≥50% stenosis) in patients who underwent conventional coronary angiography.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We included 104 patients (73 men, aged 64 [SD, 10.8] years) in our study. Obstructive coronary artery disease was found in 22.1% of patients. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of CCT for detecting significant stenoses were 100%, 98%, and 82% and 100% on a segment-by-segment analysis and 100%, 83%, and 65% and 100% on a per-patient analysis, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Cardiac computed tomography provides a comprehensive evaluation of ascending aorta aneurysms and coronary artery tree.
authors.affiliation: From the *Department of Radiology, DIBIMED, and †Department of Cardiology, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy; ‡Department of Radiology, Montreal Heart Institute/Universitè de Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; and §Department of Radiology, Erasmus Medical Center University, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Ludovico
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: La Grutta
authors.forename: Patrizia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Toia
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Galia
authors.forename: Emanuele
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Grassedonio
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ajello
authors.forename: Giuseppina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Novo
authors.forename: Tommaso Vincenzo
authors.initials: TV
authors.lastname: Bartolotta
authors.forename: Erica
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Maffei
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Novo
authors.forename: Filippo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cademartiri
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lagalla
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Midiri
mesh_terms: D001011:Aorta / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D001014:Aortic Aneurysm / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D023921:Coronary Stenosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D064847:Multimodal Imaging; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed