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Dual-energy CT of the heart for diagnosing coronary artery stenosis and myocardial ischemia-initial experience

  • Cardiac Imaging
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Abstract

We aimed to evaluate the feasibility of diagnosing coronary stenosis and myocardial ischemia with a single dual-energy CT (DECT) acquisition. Thirty-five patients underwent contrast-enhanced, ECG-gated DECT of the heart while independently operating the two tubes of a dual-source CT system at high- and low-energy X-ray spectra. From the same raw data, coronary CTA (cCTA) studies were reconstructed for stenosis detection, and the myocardial blood-pool was analyzed by determining the tissue iodine content. Two independent observers analyzed all studies for stenosis and myocardial blood-pool deficits. Results were correlated with SPECT, coronary catheterization and cCTA on a segmental basis. cCTA had 98% sensitivity, 88% specificity and 92% accuracy for detection of >50% stenosis. DECT detected myocardial ischemia with 84% sensitivity, 94% specificity and 92% accuracy. Our initial experience may warrant further exploration of DECT as a possibly feasible single imaging investigation for the comprehensive diagnosis of coronary stenosis and myocardial ischemia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Medical University of South Carolina, 169 Ashley Avenue, Charleston, SC, 29425, USA

    Balazs Ruzsics, Heon Lee, Peter L. Zwerner, Philip Costello & U. Joseph Schoepf

  2. Department of Radiology, Seoul Medical Center, Seoul, South Korea

    Heon Lee

  3. Division of Cardiology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA

    Peter L. Zwerner & U. Joseph Schoepf

  4. Department of Biostatistics, Bioinformatics, and Epidemiology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA

    Mulugeta Gebregziabher

Authors
  1. Balazs Ruzsics
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  2. Heon Lee
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  3. Peter L. Zwerner
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  4. Mulugeta Gebregziabher
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  5. Philip Costello
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  6. U. Joseph Schoepf
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Correspondence to U. Joseph Schoepf.

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Ruzsics, B., Lee, H., Zwerner, P.L. et al. Dual-energy CT of the heart for diagnosing coronary artery stenosis and myocardial ischemia-initial experience. Eur Radiol 18, 2414–2424 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-008-1022-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-008-1022-x

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