title: Optimizing left anterior oblique (LAO) caudal imaging in coronary angiography using the Taguchi method: A phantom study with clinical verification.
abstract: The aim of this work tried to optimize the spider view of the coronary angiograph for the clinical diagnosis of cardiac artery disease by cardiologists. A qualified spider view in coronary angiography must be exactly a "quasi-spider" image, which can help to diagnose a lesion in left main coronary artery and related regions. Coronary artery phantom was placed in a 75 mm-thick acrylic box to model a 70 kg human thorax. Eighteen groups of various combinations of operating factors of the X-ray facility were organized based on a Taguchi analysis. The six factors that govern the imaging quality of X-ray were (A) whether the X-rays emitted through a filter, (B, C) the Left Anterior Oblique (LAO) and Caudal Angulation (CAU) projection angles, (D) X-ray peak voltage (kVp), (E) X-ray pulse duration and current (mAs) and (F) distance between X-ray source and intensifying plate (SID). The obtained X-ray spider view images of each group were graded to determine the optimal settings; X-ray emitted without filter, 70° LAO, 30° CAU, 110 kVp, 1.5 mAs and 108 cm of SID. X-ray imaging quality optimal result was confirmed based on a clinical diagnosis of 43 patients, to prove the effectiveness of this study.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Radiological Science, Central Taiwan University of Science and Technology Takun, Taichung, 406, Taiwan, Republic of China.|Department of Cardiology, Taichung Armed Forces General Hospital, Taichung, 406, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Lung-Fa
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Radiological Science, Central Taiwan University of Science and Technology Takun, Taichung, 406, Taiwan, Republic of China.|Cardiovascular Center, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, 40705, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Kuang Hua
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, HsiuPing University of Science and Technology, Tali, Taichung, 412, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hai-Feng
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Sher
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Radiological Science, Central Taiwan University of Science and Technology Takun, Taichung, 406, Taiwan, Republic of China. lkpan@ctust.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Lung-Kwang
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Pan
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D017023:Coronary Angiography / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted
keywords: Angiography; Coronary artery phantom; Optimization; Spider view; Taguchi