Cardiovasc Imaging Asia.  2018 Jul;2(3):123-128. 10.22468/cvia.2017.00192.

Determining Whether Tube Voltages and Contrast Flow Rates have an Impact on a Test Bolus-Based Contrast-Enhancement-Prediction Algorithm during Coronary CT Angiography

Affiliations
  • 1Departments of Radiology, 3 Nuclear Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Jiangsu, China
  • 2Department of Radiology, The Affiliated Jiangning Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Jiangsu, China

Abstract


Objective
To assess whether tube voltages and contrast flow rates have an impact on a test bolus (TB)-based contrast-enhancement-prediction (CEP) algorithm during coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA).
Materials and Methods
A total of 188 anonymized CCTA examinations following TB scans were collected. During TB, a tube voltage of 100 kV and contrast flow rate of 3.5 mL/s were applied for Group 1 and 120 kV and 4.5 mL/s for Group 2. True aortic enhancements were extracted with a region of interest at the ascending aorta (AAo). TB signals and group information were used as independent variables in a stepwise linear regression analysis to predict aortic enhancement. For each patient, the errors in predicted aortic enhancements were calculated.
Results
Time to peak enhancement in the AAo (PT AAo) and peak enhancement in the descending aorta (PE DAo) during the TB study had significant correlations with AAo (AAo= -125.627+1.619×PE DAo+16.236×PT AAo r=0.782, p<0.001). The CEP algorithm without group information presented a minor systemic underestimation in Group 1 [-8 Hounsfield unit (HU)] and an overestimation in Group 2 (8 HU).
Conclusion
The TB-based CEP of aortic enhancement is feasible. The tube voltages and contrast flow rates during TB scanning were statistically significant, but resulted in a clinical negligible impact on the CEP algorithm.

Keyword

Tube voltage; Contrast agent; Coronary; Computed tomography angiography; Contrast enhancement prediction.
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