1. Coronary Artery Calcium Scoring: Toward a New Standard.
- Author
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van Praagh GD, Wang J, van der Werf NR, Greuter MJW, Mastrodicasa D, Nieman K, van Hamersvelt RW, Oostveen LJ, de Lange F, Slart RHJA, Leiner T, Fleischmann D, and Willemink MJ
- Subjects
- Algorithms, Calcium, Humans, Phantoms, Imaging, Radiation Dosage, Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted, Reproducibility of Results, Coronary Artery Disease diagnostic imaging, Coronary Vessels diagnostic imaging
- Abstract
Objectives: Although the Agatston score is a commonly used quantification method, rescan reproducibility is suboptimal, and different CT scanners result in different scores. In 2007, McCollough et al (Radiology 2007;243:527-538) proposed a standard for coronary artery calcium quantification. Advancements in CT technology over the last decade, however, allow for improved acquisition and reconstruction methods. This study aims to investigate the feasibility of a reproducible reduced dose alternative of the standardized approach for coronary artery calcium quantification on state-of-the-art CT systems from 4 major vendors., Materials and Methods: An anthropomorphic phantom containing 9 calcifications and 2 extension rings were used. Images were acquired with 4 state-of-the-art CT systems using routine protocols and a variety of tube voltages (80-120 kV), tube currents (100% to 25% dose levels), slice thicknesses (3/2.5 and 1/1.25 mm), and reconstruction techniques (filtered back projection and iterative reconstruction). Every protocol was scanned 5 times after repositioning the phantom to assess reproducibility. Calcifications were quantified as Agatston scores., Results: Reducing tube voltage to 100 kV, dose to 75%, and slice thickness to 1 or 1.25 mm combined with higher iterative reconstruction levels resulted in an on average 36% lower intrascanner variability (interquartile range) compared with the standard 120 kV protocol. Interscanner variability per phantom size decreased by 34% on average. With the standard protocol, on average, 6.2 ± 0.4 calcifications were detected, whereas 7.0 ± 0.4 were detected with the proposed protocol. Pairwise comparisons of Agatston scores between scanners within the same phantom size demonstrated 3 significantly different comparisons at the standard protocol (P < 0.05), whereas no significantly different comparisons arose at the proposed protocol (P > 0.05)., Conclusions: On state-of-the-art CT systems of 4 different vendors, a 25% reduced dose, thin-slice calcium scoring protocol led to improved intrascanner and interscanner reproducibility and increased detectability of small and low-density calcifications in this phantom. The protocol should be extensively validated before clinical use, but it could potentially improve clinical interscanner/interinstitutional reproducibility and enable more consistent risk assessment and treatment strategies., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest and sources of funding: G.D.v.P. was supported in part by an unconditional grant from PUSH: a collaboration between Siemens Healthineers and the University Medical Center Groningen; the sponsor had no role in the conceptualization, interpretation of findings, writing, or publication of the article. D.M. has no activities related to the present article; he is a shareholder of and a consultant for Segmed, Inc. K.N. received institutional research support from Siemens Healthineers, Bayer Healthcare, GE Healthcare, and HeartFlow Inc. L.J.O.'s institution received a grant from Canon Medical Systems to hire a doctoral candidate to investigate subtraction CT and disclosed no other relevant relationships. D.F. has no activities related to the present article; he received research support from Siemens Healthineers and GE Healthcare, is on the speakers' bureau at Siemens Healthineers, and has ownership interest in iSchemaView; he disclosed no other relevant relationships. M.J.W. has no activities related to the present article and received a research grant from Philips Healthcare; he is a cofounder, advisor, and stockholder of Segmed, Inc; he disclosed no other relevant relationships. J.W., N.R.v.d.W., M.J.W.G., R.W.v.H., F.d.L., R.H.J.A.S., and T.L. have nothing to disclose., (Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2022
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