Abstract
Purpose: To compare the diagnostic power of different software implementations for the quantification of coronary artery calcium. Materials and Methods: Electron beam computed tomography was performed in 109 heart transplant recipients at the same time as catheter coronary angiography and intracoronary ultrasound. Electron beam computed tomography images were analyzed by 3 software packages marketed for the quantification of coronary calcifications using the same software settings, and the resultant calcium scores correlated with the invasive reference methods by Bland-Altman plots and analysis of the receiver operating characteristics. Results: Although all scoring systems displayed close correlations upon regression analysis (r 2 = 0.94-0.99), their ability to detect disease as per the invasive reference method varied significantly in some instances. The area under the ROC curve varied between Az = 0.78 and 0.85 for the detection of coronary artery stenosis upon coronary angiography (P = 0.05-0.13), and between Az = 0.75 and 0.83 for the detection of accelerated intimal proliferation (P = 0.03-0.18). Conclusions: Different software implementations for the quantification of coronary artery calcium load may display diagnostically relevant differences in spite of close direct correlation.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 761-768 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Investigative Radiology |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue number | 12 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 2003 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Comparative studies
- Computed tomography (CT)
- Coronary vessels and CT
- Coronary vessels calcification
- Electron beam computed tomography (EBCT)
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging
- Radiological and Ultrasound Technology