Purpose
-Coronary CT angiography (CCTA) examinations have been traditionally performed in a breath-holding state to reduce the artifacts caused by respiration.However,
some patients cannot hold their breath,
or their heart rate increases during breath holding.
-To date,
320-detector row CT scanner allows for 16 cm z-axis coverage; These CT machines are able to perform a nonspiral ECG gated examination of the heart during one R-R interval without movement of the table.
- Diaphragm velocity by respiration: 6.4~29.3mm/sec
[Normal respiratory rate for adults (at rest); 12~20 breaths/min,...
Methods and Materials
Subjects
85 consecutive patients,
who underwent CCTA from September from December 2011 to February 2012,
were prospectively enrolled.;All patients had suspected or diagnosed coronary artery disease and were examined based on the clinical requirement.
Excluded 11 patients; who had inappropriate heart beats (i.e.,
very fast [>75 bpm] or irregular heart rates) in spite of beta-blocker administration.
74 patients were enrolled as subjects
– 24 women,
50 men
– mean age,
58 ± 10.9 years (range,
23–76 years)
Data Acquisition and Processing
All 74 patients underwent...
Results
Subjects
The difference of the demographic data including mean age,
gender ratio,
and BMI,
was not significant between the two subject groups.
The average heart rate during CCTA showed insignificant difference between two groups (mean heart rate: 59 ± 6.7,
P = 0.85).
A total of 58 patients (29/29,
free breathing group/breath holding group) were performed unenhanced CT for calcium score.
;The average Agatston score was 153 ± 316.5 and no significant different between the two groups (P = 0.40).
15 patients showed previous inserted...
Conclusion
Limitations
We did not apply the free-breathing CCTA method on patients showing very fast (>75 bpm) or irregular heart rates,
whom should be examined by multisegment reconstruction technique.
– during the free-breathing state the position of the heart
significantly different between the two or three cardiac cycles
--> which produce critical beat-to-beat artifacts after
multisegment reconstruction.
Although the mean effective radiation doses were not statistically different between the two methods in the present results,
free-breathing CCTA has the possibility of higher radiation dose exposure than...
References
Hoffmann U,
Nagurney JT,
Moselewski F,
et al (2006) Coronary multidetector computed tomography in the assessment of patients with acute chest pain.
Circulation 114:2251–2260
Achenbach S,
Ropers D,
Kuettner A,
et al (2006) Contrast-enhanced coronary artery visualization by dual-source computed tomography--initial experience.
Eur J Radiol 57:331–335
Johnson TR,
Nikolaou K,
Wintersperger BJ,
et al (2007) ECG-gated 64-MDCT angiography in the differential diagnosis of acute chest pain.
AJR Am J Roentgenol 188:76–82
Boussuges A,
Gole Y,
Blanc P (2009) Diaphragmatic motion studied by m-mode ultrasonography: methods,...
Personal Information
First author: Eun-Ju Kang1,
M.D.
Department of Radiology,
Dong-A University College of Medicine & Dong-A University Medical Center,
Busan,
Korea
E-mail:
[email protected],
[email protected]
Tel: 82-51-240-5367 Fax: 82-51-253-4931
Corresponding author: Jongmin Lee2,
M.D.,
Ph.D.
Department of Radiology,
Kyungpook National University & Hospital,
Daegu,
Korea.
E-mail:
[email protected]
Tel: 82-53-420-5472 Fax: 82-53-422-2677 /