1. CT evaluation of coronary artery stents with iterative image reconstruction: improvements in image quality and potential for radiation dose reduction.
- Author
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Ebersberger U, Tricarico F, Schoepf UJ, Blanke P, Spears JR, Rowe GW, Halligan WT, Henzler T, Bamberg F, Leber AW, Hoffmann E, and Apfaltrer P
- Subjects
- Aged, Artifacts, Chi-Square Distribution, Comorbidity, Contrast Media, Female, Humans, Iohexol analogs & derivatives, Male, Retrospective Studies, Signal-To-Noise Ratio, Statistics, Nonparametric, Cardiac-Gated Imaging Techniques methods, Coronary Angiography methods, Coronary Disease diagnostic imaging, Coronary Disease surgery, Radiation Dosage, Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted methods, Stents, Tomography, X-Ray Computed methods
- Abstract
Objectives: Comparison of coronary artery stent assessment with cardiac CT angiography (cCTA) using traditional filtered back projection (FBP) and sinogram affirmed iterative reconstruction (SAFIRE), in both full- and half-radiation dose image data., Methods: Dual-source cCTA studies of 37 implanted stents were reconstructed at full- and half-radiation dose with FBP and SAFIRE. Half-dose data were based on projections from one DSCT detector. In-stent noise, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and stent-lumen attenuation increase ratio (SAIR) were measured and image quality graded. Stent volumes were measured to gauge severity of beam hardening artefacts., Results: Full-dose SAFIRE reconstructions were superior to full-dose FBP vis-à-vis in-stent noise (21.2 ± 6.6 vs. 35.7 ± 17.5; P < 0.05), SNR (22.1 ± 8.6 vs. 14.3 ± 6.7; P < 0.05), SAIR (19.6 ± 17.6 vs. 33.4 ± 20.4%; P < 0.05), and image quality (4.2 ± 0.86 vs. 3.5 ± 1.0; P < 0.05). Stent volumes were lower measured with SAFIRE (119.9 ± 53.7 vs. 129.8 ± 65.0 mm(3); P > 0.05). Comparing half-dose SAFIRE with full-dose FBP, in-stent noise (26.7 ± 13.0 vs. 35.7 ± 17.5; P < 0.05) and SNR (18.2 ± 6.9 vs. 14.3 ± 6.7; P < 0.05) improved significantly. SAIR (31.6 ± 24.3 vs. 33.4 ± 20.4%; P > 0.05), stent volume (129.6 ± 57.3 vs. 129.8 ± 65.0 mm(3); P > 0.05), and image quality (3.5 ± 1.0 vs. 3.7 ± 1.1; P > 0.05) did not differ. Radiation dose decreased from 8.7 ± 5.2 to 4.3 ± 2.6 mSv., Conclusions: Iterative reconstruction significantly improves imaging of coronary artery stents by CT compared with FBP, even with half-radiation-dose data.
- Published
- 2013
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