Impact of calcification on the diagnostic accuracy of quantitative flow fraction based on coronary CT angiography
10.3760/cma.j.cn112149-20231011-00278
- VernacularTitle:钙化对基于冠状动脉CT血管成像的定量血流分数诊断准确度的影响
- Author:
Wenshan MA
1
;
Xinxin YU
;
Sha LI
;
Shuai ZHANG
;
Xiaoxue LIU
;
Ximing WANG
Author Information
1. 滨州医学院医学影像学院，烟台 264003
- Keywords:
Coronary disease;
Coronary artery calcification;
Quantitative flow ratio;
Myocardial ischemia;
Coronary CT angiography
- From:
Chinese Journal of Radiology
2023;57(12):1331-1337
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Objective:To investigate the effect of calcification on the diagnostic accuracy of the quantitative flow fraction (CT-QFR) derived from coronary CT angiography (CCTA).Methods:A total of 244 patients (471 coronary arteries) who underwent both CCTA and invasive coronary angiography (ICA) for suspected coronary artery disease between 2019 and 2021 were included in the study. All analyses were conducted at the vessel level using CCTA and ICA images, and the morphological and hemodynamic parameters of all enrolled vessels were assessed. The group was divided into severe calcification (206 cases) and non-severe calcification (265 cases) based on whether the arc of lesion calcification was greater than 180°. Subsequently, the two groups were evaluated to the degree of coronary stenosis, the length of the target lesion, the length of calcification, the ratio of the length of calcification, the remodeling index of calcification, the quantitative flow fraction (QFR), the CT-QFR, and the distribution of the involved vessels. Pearson correlation analysis and the Bland-Altman scatterplot were used to analyze the correlation and consistency between CT-QFR and QFR values from different subgroups. The benchmark for coronary ischemia was QFR≤0.80, and the criteria for diagnosing coronary ischemia were CT-QFR≤0.80 and luminal stenosis≥50%, respectively, and the effectiveness of CT-QFR for coronary ischemia was evaluated by plotting the ROC curves in various calcification subgroups.Results:The degree of luminal stenosis, lesion length, calcification length ratio, and calcification remodeling index were substantially higher in the severely calcified group than in the non-severely calcified group (all P<0.05). The results of the Pearson correlation analysis demonstrated a significant association between CT-QFR and QFR in both the severe and non-severe calcification groups ( r=0.85, 95%CI 0.81-0.88, P<0.001; r=0.91, 95%CI 0.89-0.93, P<0.001); in contrast, the Bland-Altman analysis indicated that the CT-QFR and QFR measurements in the severely calcified group exhibited a high level of agreement, with a mean difference of -0.01 (95% limits of agreement -0.22 to 0.20) for measurements in the severely calcified group and 0 (95% limits of agreement -0.15 to 0.16). The specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and area under the curve (AUC) for the diagnosis of ischaemic lesions by CT-QFR and CCTA alone were lower in the severely calcified group than in the non-severely calcified group, but the difference in AUC between the two groups for CT-QFR was not statistically significant ( P>0.05), and the difference in AUC for the morphological assessment of CCTA was statistically significant. The diagnostic effectiveness of CCTA alone was considerably worse than the specificity and AUC of CT-QFR for the various calcified subgroups for the diagnosis of ischemic lesions (all P<0.001). Conclusions:Severe calcification somewhat affected the diagnosis of ischaemic lesions by CT-QFR, but there was still a high correlation and concordance between CT-QFR and QFR within the severely calcified group, and the diagnostic efficacy was significantly better than that assessed by CCTA morphology alone.
