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Objectives: To determine whether image reconstruction with a higher matrix size improves image quality for lower extremity CTA studies., Methods: Raw data from 50 consecutive lower extremity CTA studies acquired on two MDCT scanners (SOMATOM Flash, Force) in patients evaluated for peripheral arterial disease (PAD) were retrospectively collected and reconstructed with standard (512 × 512) and higher resolution (768 × 768, 1024 × 1024) matrix sizes. Five blinded readers reviewed representative transverse images in randomized order (150 total). Readers graded image quality (0 (worst)-100 (best)) for vascular wall definition, image noise, and confidence in stenosis grading. Ten patients' stenosis scores on CTA images were compared to invasive angiography. Scores were compared using mixed effects linear regression., Results: Reconstructions with 1024 × 1024 matrix were ranked significantly better for wall definition (mean score 72, 95% CI = 61-84), noise (74, CI = 59-88), and confidence (70, CI = 59-80) compared to 512 × 512 (wall = 65, CI = 53 × 77; noise = 67, CI = 52 × 81; confidence = 62, CI = 52 × 73; p = 0.003, p = 0.01, and p = 0.004, respectively). Compared to 512 × 512, the 768 × 768 and 1024 × 1024 matrix improved image quality in the tibial arteries (wall = 51 vs 57 and 59, p < 0.05; noise = 65 vs 69 and 68, p = 0.06; confidence = 48 vs 57 and 55, p < 0.05) to a greater degree than the femoral-popliteal arteries (wall = 78 vs 78 and 85; noise = 81 vs 81 and 84; confidence = 76 vs 77 and 81, all p > 0.05), though for the 10 patients with angiography accuracy of stenosis grading was not significantly different. Inter-reader agreement was moderate (rho = 0.5)., Conclusion: Higher matrix reconstructions of 768 × 768 and 1024 × 1024 improved image quality and may enable more confident assessment of PAD., Clinical Relevance Statement: Higher matrix reconstructions of the vessels in the lower extremities can improve perceived image quality and reader confidence in making diagnostic decisions based on CTA imaging., Key Points: • Higher than standard matrix sizes improve perceived image quality of the arteries in the lower extremities. • Image noise is not perceived as increased even at a matrix size of 1024 × 1024 pixels. • Gains from higher matrix reconstructions are higher in smaller, more distal tibial and peroneal vessels than in femoropopliteal vessels., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to European Society of Radiology.)

Purpose: To compare the clinical use of coronary CT angiography (CCTA)-derived fractional flow reserve (FFR) in individuals with and without diabetes mellitus (DM)., Materials and Methods: This secondary analysis included participants (enrolled July 2015 to October 2017) from the prospective, multicenter, international The Assessing Diagnostic Value of Noninvasive CT-FFR in Coronary Care (ADVANCE) registry (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier, NCT02499679) who were evaluated for suspected coronary artery disease (CAD), with one or more coronary stenosis ≥30% on CCTA images, using CT-FFR. CCTA and CT-FFR findings, treatment strategies at 90 days, and clinical outcomes at 1-year follow-up were compared in participants with and without DM., Results: The study included 4290 participants (mean age, 66 years ± 10 [SD]; 66% male participants; 22% participants with DM). Participants with DM had more obstructive CAD (one or more coronary stenosis ≥50%; 78.8% vs 70.6%, P < .001), multivessel CAD (three-vessel obstructive CAD; 18.9% vs 11.2%, P < .001), and proportionally more vessels with CT-FFR ≤ 0.8 (74.3% vs 64.6%, P < .001). Treatment reclassification by CT-FFR occurred in two-thirds of participants which was consistent regardless of the presence of DM. There was a similar graded increase in coronary revascularization with declining CT-FFR in both groups. At 1 year, presence of DM was associated with higher rates of major adverse cardiovascular events (hazard ratio, 2.2; 95% CI: 1.2, 4.1; P = .01). However, no between group differences were observed when stratified by stenosis severity (<50% or ≥50%) or CT-FFR positivity., Conclusion: Both anatomic CCTA findings and CT-FFR demonstrated a more complex pattern of CAD in participants with versus without DM. Rates of treatment reclassification were similar regardless of the presence of DM, and DM was not an adverse prognostic indicator when adjusted for diameter stenosis and CT-FFR.Clinical trial registration no. NCT 02499679 Keywords: Fractional Flow Reserve, CT Angiography, Diabetes Mellitus, Coronary Artery Disease Supplemental material is available for this article. See also the commentary by Ghoshhajra in this issue.© RSNA, 2023., Competing Interests: Disclosures of conflicts of interest: G.S.G. Trainee editorial board member for Radiology: Cardiothoracic Imaging. G.T. Supported by the Fondation Vaudoise de Cardiologie and the SICPA Foundation. K.R.H. No relevant relationships. H.T. Grants from Canon Medical Systems and JSPS KAKENHI (grant no. 23K15150); speaking fee from HeartFlow Japan. S.L.S. Grants paid to institution from Edwards Lifesciences, Medtronic, HeartFlow; consulting fees from Edwards Lifesciences, Anteris Technologies, and Medtronic; equipment loan agreement from ViVitro Labs. P.B. Consulting fees from Edwards Lifesciences; L.M.H.K. Funding to department from HeartFlow; member of the Radiology: Cardiothoracic Imaging editorial board. B.L.N. Unrestricted institutional research grants from Siemens Healthineers and HeartFlow. J.J. No relevant relationships. M.G.R. Consulting fees from HeartFlow. G.P. Funding from HeartFlow. T.A.F. No relevant relationships. K.M.C. Institutional grant from HeartFlow; honoraria from Elucid Bioimaging. P.S.D. Grant to institution from HeartFlow; honorarium from UpToDate; support from Caption Health. W.H. Employee of HeartFlow; stock options in HeartFlow. H.M. No relevant relationships. N.P.R.S. No relevant relationships. K.N. Grants from Siemens Healthineers, GE HealthCare, and HeartFlow; consulting fees from Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Elucid, and Novartis; stock options in Lumen Therapeutics. J.J.B. No relevant relationships. T. Amano No relevant relationships. T.K. No relevant relationships. T. Akasaka No relevant relationships. T.R. Support (salary and equity) from HeartFlow. D.S.B. Software royalties from Cedars-Sinai; consulting fees from GE and Bayer. M.R.P. Grants from HeartFlow, Bayer, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, and Novartis; consulting fees from Bayer, Hanssen Pharmaceuticals, and Novartis. B.D.B. No relevant relationships. S.M. Employee and shareholder of HeartFlow. J.A.L. Grants from GE HealthCare; consulting fees and stock options from HeartFlow and Circle Cardiovascular Imaging; personal core lab services from Arineta; speaking fees from Philips and GE HealthCare; stock options in HeartFlow and Circle Cardiovascular Imaging, deputy editor for Radiology: Cardiothoracic Imaging., (© 2023 by the Radiological Society of North America, Inc.)

The coronary vascular volume to left ventricular mass (V/M) ratio assessed by coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) is a promising new parameter to investigate the relation of coronary vasculature to the myocardium supplied. It is hypothesized that hypertension decreases the ratio between coronary volume and myocardial mass by way of myocardial hypertrophy, which could explain the detected abnormal myocardial perfusion reserve reported in patients with hypertension. Individuals enrolled in the multicenter ADVANCE (Assessing Diagnostic Value of Noninvasive FFRCT in Coronary Care) registry who underwent clinically indicated CCTA for analysis of suspected coronary artery disease with known hypertension status were included in current analysis. The V/M ratio was calculated from CCTA by segmenting the coronary artery luminal volume and left ventricular myocardial mass. In total, 2,378 subjects were included in this study, of whom 1,346 (56%) had hypertension. Left ventricular myocardial mass and coronary volume were higher in subjects with hypertension than normotensive patients (122.7 ± 32.8 g vs 120.0 ± 30.5 g, p = 0.039, and 3,105.0 ± 992.0 mm 3 vs 2,965.6 ± 943.7 mm 3 , p <0.001, respectively). Subsequently, the V/M ratio was higher in patients with hypertension than those without (26.0 ± 7.6 mm 3 /g vs 25.3 ± 7.3 mm 3 /g, p = 0.024). After correcting for potential confounding factors, the coronary volume and ventricular mass remained higher in patients with hypertension (least square) mean difference estimate: 196.3 (95% confidence intervals [CI] 119.9 to 272.7) mm 3 , p <0.001, and 5.60 (95% CI 3.42 to 7.78) g, p <0.001, respectively), but the V/M ratio was not significantly different (least square mean difference estimate: 0.48 (95% CI -0.12 to 1.08) mm 3 /g, p = 0.116). In conclusion, our findings do not support the hypothesis that the abnormal perfusion reserve would be caused by reduced V/M ratio in patients with hypertension., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The Department of Cardiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands has received unrestricted research grants from Bayer, Abbott Vascular, Medtronic, Biotronik, Boston Scientific, GE Healthcare (Little Chalfont, United Kingdom), and Edwards Lifesciences. Dr. Patel has received research grants from HeartFlow, Bayer (Abbott), Janssen, and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and has served on the advisory board for HeartFlow, Bayer, and Janssen. Dr. Nørgaard has received an unrestricted institutional research grant from HeartFlow Inc. Dr. Fairbairn has served on the Speakers Bureau for Heartflow. Dr. Nieman reports support from the NIH (NIH R01- HL141712; NIH R01 - HL146754) and reports unrestricted institutional research support from Siemens Healthineers, consulting fees from Siemens Medical Solutions United States And Novartis, and equity in Lumen Therapeutics. Dr. Berman has received unrestricted research support from HeartFlow. Dr. Hurwitz Koweek has received research support and speaking fees from HeartFlow and Siemens. Dr. Pontone has received institutional research grant and/or honorarium a consultant/speaker from GE Healthcare, Boehringer, Bracco, Medtronic, Bayer, and HeartFlow. Dr. Rabbat has served as a consultant for HeartFlow. Dr. Rogers is employee of and owns equity in HeartFlow. Dr. Leipsic has received research grants from GE Healthcare and Edwards Lifesciences and has served as a consultant for and holds stock options in Circle cardiovascular Imaging and HeartFlow Inc. Dr. Jukema/his department has received research grants from and/or was speaker (with or without lecture fees) on a.o.(CME accredited) meetings sponsored by Amarin, Amgen, Athera, Biotronik, Boston Scientific, Dalcor, Daiichi Sankyo, Lilly, Medtronic, Merck-Schering-Plough, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Roche, Sanofi Aventis (Bridgewater, New Jersey), the Netherlands Heart Foundation, CardioVascular Research the Netherlands, the Netherlands Heart Institute, and the European Community Framework KP7 Program. Dr. Bax received speaker fees from Abbot Vascular. Dr. Ajmone received speaker fees from Abbot Vascular and GE Healthcare. Dr. Saraste received consultancy fees from Amgen, Astra Zeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Pfizer and speaker fees from Abbott, Astra Zeneca, and Bayer. Dr. Knuuti received consultancy fees from GE Healthcare and AstraZeneca and speaker fees from GE Healthcare, Bayer, Lundbeck, Boehringer Ingelheim, Pfizer, and Merck outside of the submitted work. The remaining authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: To make available to the medical imaging community a computed tomography (CT) image database composed of hybrid datasets (patient CT images with digitally inserted anthropomorphic lesions) where lesion ground truth is known a priori. It is envisioned that such a dataset could be a resource for the assessment of CT image quality, machine learning, and imaging technologies [e.g., computer aided detection (CAD) and segmentation algorithms]., Acquisition and Validation Methods: This HIPPA compliant, IRB waiver of approval study consisted of utilizing 120 chest and 100 abdominal clinically acquired adult CT exams. One image series per patient exam was utilized based on coverage of the anatomical region of interest (either the thorax or abdomen). All image series were de-identified. Simulated lesions were derived from a library of anatomically informed digital lesions (93 lung and 50 liver lesions) where six and four digital lesions with nominal diameters ranging from 4 to 20 mm were inserted into lung and liver image series, respectively. Locations for lesion insertion were randomly chosen. A previously validated lesion simulation and virtual insertion technique were utilized. The resulting hybrid images were reviewed by three experienced radiologists to assure similarity with routine clinical imaging in a diverse adult population., Data Format and Usage Notes: The database is composed of four datasets that contain 100 patient cases each, for a total of 400 image series accompanied by Matlab.mat tables that provide descriptive information about the virtually inserted lesions (i.e., size, shape, opacity, and insertion location in physical (world) coordinates and voxel indices). All image and metadata are stored in DICOM format on the Quantitative Imaging Data Warehouse (https://qidw.rsna.org/#collection/57d463471cac0a4ec8ff8f46/folder/5b23dceb1cac0a4ec800a770?dialog=login), in two sets: (a) QIBA CT Hybrid Dataset I which contains Lung I and Liver I datasets, and (b) QIBA CT Hybrid Dataset II which contains Lung II and Liver II datasets. The QIDW is supported by the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Registration is required upon initial log in., Potential Applications: By simulating lesion opacity (full solid, part solid and ground glass), size, and texture, the relationship between lesion morphology and segmentation or CAD algorithm performance can be investigated without the need for repetitive patient exams. This database can also serve as a reference standard for device and reader performance studies., (© 2019 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.)