High-Pitch Coronary CT Angiography at 70 kVp Adopting a Protocol of Low Injection Speed and Low Volume of Contrast Medium.
10.3348/kjr.2017.18.5.763
- Author:
Ruiqi FENG
1
;
Jiajie TONG
;
Xiaofei LIU
;
Yu ZHAO
;
Liang ZHANG
Author Information
1. Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110001, P.R. China. 270973226@163.com
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Low tube voltage;
Contrast medium;
Coronary CT angiography;
Iodine delivery rate;
CT attenuation enhancement;
Radiation reduction;
Low dose contrast agent
- MeSH:
Angiography*;
Arteries;
Contrast Media;
Coronary Artery Disease;
Coronary Vessels;
Heart Rate;
Humans;
Noise;
Prospective Studies;
Signal-To-Noise Ratio
- From:Korean Journal of Radiology
2017;18(5):763-772
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the feasibility and image quality (IQ) of prospectively high-pitch coronary CT angiography (CCTA) with low contrast medium injection rate at 70 kVp. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and four patients with suspected coronary artery disease (body mass index < 26 kg/m², sinus rhythm and heart rate < 70 beats/min) were prospectively enrolled and randomly divided into two groups. In group A and group B, 28 mL and 40 mL of 370 mgI/mL iodinated contrast media was administrated at a flow rate of 3.5 and 5 mL/s, respectively. CT values, noise, signal-to-noise ratio, contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) of the proximal segments of coronary arteries and subjective IQ were evaluated. RESULTS: The CT values and noise in group A were significantly lower than those in group B (434–485 Hounsfield units [HU] vs. 772–851 HU, all p < 0.001; 17.8–22.3 vs. 23.3–26.4, all p < 0.005). The CNRs of the right coronary artery and left main artery showed no statistical difference between the two groups (42.1 ± 13.8 vs. 36.8 ± 16.0, p = 0.074; 38.7 ± 10.6 vs. 38.1 ± 17.0, p = 0.819). No statistical difference was observed between the two groups in IQ scores (3.04 ± 0.75 vs. 3.0 ± 0.79, p = 0.526) and diagnostic ratio (96.1% [50/52] vs. 94.2% [49/52], p = 0.647). CONCLUSION: Prospective high-pitch CCTA at 70 kVp with 28 mL of contrast media and injection rate of 3.5 mL/s could provide diagnostic IQ for normal-weight patients with heart rate of < 70 beats/min.
