Korean J Radiol.  2006 Mar;7(1):20-27. 10.3348/kjr.2006.7.1.20.

Comparison of Transaxial Source Images and 3-Plane, Thin-Slab Maximal Intensity Projection Images for the Diagnosis of Coronary Artery Stenosis with Using ECG-Gated Cardiac CT

• Choi JW
• Seo JB
• Do KH
• Choi SI
• Lee W
• Ko SM
• Lee SH
• Lee JS
• Song JW
• Song KS
• Lim TH

• KMID: 753912
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3348/kjr.2006.7.1.20

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
We wanted to compare the transaxial source images with the optimized three plane, thin-slab maximum intensity projection (MIP) images from electrocardiographic (ECG)-gated cardiac CT for their ability to detect hemodynamically significant stenosis (HSS), and we did this by means of performing a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-eight patients with a heart rate less than 66 beats per minute and who were undergoing both retrospective ECG-gated cardiac CT and conventional coronary angiography were included in this study. The contrast-enhanced CT scans were obtained with a collimation of 16x0.75-mm and a rotation time of 420 msec. The transaxial images were reconstructed at the mid-diastolic phase with a 1-mm slice thickness and a 0.5-mm increment. Using the transaxial images, the slab MIP images were created with a 4-mm thickness and a 2-mm increment, and they covered the entire heart in the horizontal long axis (4 chamber view), in the vertical long axis (2 chamber view) and in the short axis. The transaxial images and MIP images were independently evaluated for their ability to detect HSS. Conventional coronary angiograms of the same study group served as the standard of reference. Four radiologists were requested to rank each image with using a five-point scale (1 = definitely negative, 2 = probably negative, 3 = indeterminate, 4 = probably positive, and 5 = definitely positive) for the presence of HSS; the data were then interpreted using ROC analysis. RESULTS: There was no statistical difference in the area under the ROC curve between transaxial images and MIP images for the detection of HSS (0.8375 and 0.8708, respectively; p > 0.05). The mean reading time for the transaxial source images and the MIP images was 116 and 126.5 minutes, respectively. CONCLUSION: The diagnostic performance of the MIP images for detecting HSS of the coronary arteries is acceptable and this technique's ability to detect HSS is comparable to that of the transaxial source images.

Keyword

Computed tomography (CT), maximum intensity projection; Coronary vessels; CT Coronary vessels, stenosis or obstruction; Diagnostic radiology, observer performance

MeSH Terms

Tomography, X-Ray Computed/*methods
Retrospective Studies
ROC Curve
Middle Aged
Male
*Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted
Humans
Heart Rate
Female
Electrocardiography
Coronary Stenosis/*radiography
Coronary Angiography
Aged
Adult

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of the range of parallel thin-slab maximum intensity projections arranged in a horizontal long axis (4 chamber view, A), vertical long axis (2 chamber view, B), and short axis of the heart (C).

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  Fig. 2 Representative maximal intensity projection images of the coronary arteries using the standardized 3-plane, thin-slab maximum intensity projection technique. A. Horizontal long axis (4 chamber) view, B. Vertical long axis (2 chamber) view, C. Short axis view.

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  Fig. 3 Receiver operating characteristic curves for the transaxial images and the MIP images from each reader. The Az values of the MIP images were larger than those of the transaxial images except for reader 3. However, the difference was statistically significant only for reader 2. Axial = Transaxial image, TPF = true positive fraction, FPF = false positive fraction.

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