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| Visual improvement for 3 mm or less coronary artery stent imaging by using monoenergetic imaging of dual-energy CT |
| WANG Yan-yi1, CHU Jin-gang1, YU Yang2, ZHAO Yu1, DAI Xu1 |
| 1. Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110001, China; 2. Siemens Healthcare CT Career Department, Shenyang 110001, China |
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Abstract Objective: To evaluate the improvement for 3 mm or less coronary artery stent visualization by using monoenergetic imaging of dual-energy CT. Methods: We selected seven 3 mm or 2.5 mm coronary artery stents of different materials to make in-vitro coronary artery model, and then underwent perspective coronary artery scan using dual-energy CT, then reconstruct the two different data(100 and 140 kV) using dual-energy scanning sequence with monoenergetic technique, monoenergetic software was used to post-process with the flowing 9 photon energies: 60～140 keV(interval 10 keV) and average weighted 120 kV images with different data at 100 and 140 simulation of coronary vascular model. Double-blind and independent qualitative evaluation and quantitative assessment including artificial lumen narrowing(ALN), luminal attenuation difference and image noise in the groups were performed, and analysis the differences between the groups. Results: The interobserver agreement for the image subjective quality scores was substantial(Kappa=0.833), the image quality of the 80 keV group was the highest total score, for 31 points, in addition to the difference with 90 keV group and 120 kV group did not reach statistical significance(P>0.05), there was statistically significant difference with the other groups(P<0.05). The ALN value of the 80 keV group was the lowest (36.1%±3.7%), which was much lower than the other groups, and the difference with other groups was statistically significant(P<0.05). But the value of the stent luminal attenuation difference between the ten groups all did not reach statistical significance(P=0.151). The noise value of the 80 keV group was the lowest((12.51±1.27) HU), and the difference with other groups was statistically significant(P<0.05). Conclusion: To visually evaluate 3 mm or less coronary artery stents, the best image quality is to using the 80 keV energy level, more conform to the requirements of clinical work, recommended to use.
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Received: 25 December 2014
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Corresponding Authors:
DAI Xu
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2015, Vol. 26 
