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Keywords:
Cardiac, Cardiovascular system, Radioprotection / Radiation dose, CT, CT-Angiography, CT-Quantitative, Diagnostic procedure, Arteriosclerosis, Calcifications / Calculi
Authors:
G. J. Pelgrim1, M. Meyer2, M. Vonder1, M. Greuter1, S. Huijsse1, P. M. Van Ooijen1, M. Oudkerk1, T. Henzler2, R. Vliegenthart1; 1Groningen/NL, 2Mannheim/DE
DOI:
10.1594/ecr2015/C-0622
Aims and objectives
Coronary artery calcium scoring is used to quantify the amount of calcium in the coronary arteries based on non-contrast-enhanced CT.
Developments in CT provide a number of adjustable CT parameters like tube voltage,
tube current and iterative reconstruction (IR).
Calcium scoring was originally developed on electron beam tomography (EBT).
Quantification of coronary calcification was developed by Agatston (Agatston calcium score),
and a zero calcium score on EBT was indicative for over five year event-free survival.[1-3] EBT was based on tube voltage of maximum 130 kV.
In the mean time,
CT has increasingly become applied for calcium scoring.
For CT,
tube voltages of 120 kV and corresponding tube currents were selected as reference calcium scoring protocol.
In phantom studies,
real physical values for volume and mass can be used to compare to volume and mass values determined using CT measurements.
EBT calcium scoring at 130 kV and CT at 120 kV do not provide same calcium score values for the same phantom and setup.
With EBT values as reference standard,
it is possible and needed to validate the calcium scores obtained with conventional CT modalities.
In this phantom experiment different kV settings and multiple levels of of IR were analysed for their effect on calcium scoring using the latest generation dual-source CT.