Evaluation of high-pitch flash scan for pulmonary venous CTA on a 128-slice dual source CT: compared with prospective ECG-triggered sequence scan

• Published in: The International Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging 2013-10, Vol.29 (7), p.1557-1564
• Main Authors: Cao, Li Xiu, Zhang, Huan, Liu, Bo, Yang, Wen Jie, Zhang, Yan Yan, Pan, Zi Lai, Yan, Fu Hua, Chen, Ke Min
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Atrial Fibrillation - diagnostic imaging; Atrial Fibrillation - surgery; Cardiac Imaging; Cardiac-Gated Imaging Techniques; Cardiology; Catheter Ablation; Electrocardiography; Female; Humans; Imaging; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Multidetector Computed Tomography; Observer Variation; Original Paper; Phlebography - methods; Predictive Value of Tests; Prospective Studies; Pulmonary Veins - diagnostic imaging; Pulmonary Veins - surgery; Radiation Dosage; Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; Radiology; Reproducibility of Results; Signal-To-Noise Ratio
• ISSN: 1569-5794; 1573-0743; 1875-8312
• DOI: 10.1007/s10554-013-0227-5

To compare the image quality (IQ) and radiation dose of high-pitch scan and prospective ECG-triggered sequence scan on a 128-slice DSCT system for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Pulmonary venous (PV) CTA was performed with two protocols, including high-pitch scan and prospective ECG-triggered sequence scan. For each protocol, 20 sex, age and body-mass-index (mean 24.2 kg/m 2 ) matched patients were identified. Two experienced radiologists, who were blinded to the scan protocols, independently graded the CT images of the two groups by a 5-point scale for subjective IQ assessment. Measured CT attenuation (Hounsfield units ± standard deviation), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) at various anatomic locations were also recorded for objective IQ evaluation. Radiation exposure parameters [dose length product (DLP) and effective radiation dose (ERD)] were compared. Twenty-three patients (57.5 %) showed an ECG pattern of AF in total. Subjective IQ was rated excellent in 100 % for the high-pitch scan group, while minor step artifacts were observed in two patients (10 %) with arrhythmia for the prospective ECG-triggered sequence group. There was no significant difference on IQ, neither by subjective, nor by objective measures (SNR, CNR) between the two groups. The ERD of high-pitch flash scan and prospective ECG-triggered sequence scan were 0.9 (±0.25) and 2.9 (±0.69) mSv, respectively. Significantly lower radiation was achieved by using high-pitch flash scan ( P