Can nontriggered thoracic CT be used for coronary artery calcium scoring? A phantom study
- Department of Radiology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, 9700RB Groningen, The Netherlands and Center for Medical Imaging – North East Netherlands, Department of Radiology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, 9700RB Groningen (Netherlands)
- Department of Radiology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, 9700RB Groningen (Netherlands)
- Department of Radiology, Zaans Medical Center, 1500EE Zaandam (Netherlands)
- Department of Epidemiology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, 9700RB Groningen (Netherlands)
- Center for Medical Imaging – North East Netherlands, Department of Radiology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, 9700RB Groningen (Netherlands)
- Department of Radiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, University of Utrecht, 3584CX Utrecht (Netherlands)
- Department of Radiology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, 9700RB Groningen, The Netherlands and Center for Medical Imaging – North East Netherlands, Department of Radiology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, 9700RB Groningen (Netherlands)
Purpose: Coronary artery calcium score, traditionally based on electrocardiography (ECG)-triggered computed tomography (CT), predicts cardiovascular risk. However, nontriggered CT is extensively utilized. The study-purpose is to evaluate the in vitro agreement in coronary calcium score between nontriggered thoracic CT and ECG-triggered cardiac CT.Methods: Three artificial coronary arteries containing calcifications of different densities (high, medium, and low), and sizes (large, medium, and small), were studied in a moving cardiac phantom. Two 64-detector CT systems were used. The phantom moved at 0–90 mm/s in nontriggered low-dose CT as index test, and at 0–30 mm/s in ECG-triggered CT as reference. Differences in calcium scores between nontriggered and ECG-triggered CT were analyzed by t-test and 95% confidence interval. The sensitivity to detect calcification was calculated as the percentage of positive calcium scores.Results: Overall, calcium scores in nontriggered CT were not significantly different to those in ECG-triggered CT (p > 0.05). Calcium scores in nontriggered CT were within the 95% confidence interval of calcium scores in ECG-triggered CT, except predominantly at higher velocities (≥50 mm/s) for the high-density and large-size calcifications. The sensitivity for a nonzero calcium score was 100% for large calcifications, but 46%± 11% for small calcifications in nontriggered CT.Conclusions: When performing multiple measurements, good agreement in positive calcium scores is found between nontriggered thoracic and ECG-triggered cardiac CT. Agreement decreases with increasing coronary velocity. From this phantom study, it can be concluded that a high calcium score can be detected by nontriggered CT, and thus, that nontriggered CT likely can identify individuals at high risk of cardiovascular disease. On the other hand, a zero calcium score in nontriggered CT does not reliably exclude coronary calcification.
- OSTI ID:
- 22220522
- Journal Information:
- Medical Physics, Vol. 40, Issue 8; Other Information: (c) 2013 American Association of Physicists in Medicine; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-2405
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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