diagnostic evaluation of dual-source CT [DSCT] in the diagnosis of coronary artery stenosis

ABSTRACT

To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of dual-source computed tomography [DSCT] in the diagnosis of coronary artery stenoses by comparing with conventional coronary angiography [CCA]. CCA and DSCT were performed in 64 patients with suspected coronary artery disease [CAD] respectively [46 male, 18 female, age from 48 to 82 years old, mean 68.18 years]. Various postprocessing reconstructions of coronary artery and its branches, such as volumetric imaging, multi-planar reconstruction, curved planar reconstruction, maximum intensity projection were used. The coronary segments, with statistical evaluations combined with its diameter >/=1.5mm were collected to analyze the diagnosis accuracy of DSCT on coronary artery stenoses, with CCA as the gold standard. About 4.14% of coronary artery segments could not be evaluated, while 95.86% were evaluable arteries, the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value of DSCT for detecting coronary artery stenoses were, 93.58%, 99.61%, 95.31% and 99.48% respectively. There were no significant differences in the diagnostic accuracy of coronary artery stenoses between DSCT and CCA. DSCT is a reliable tool that is accurately appropriate for patients with CAD, as it has a higher accuracy and specificity, which is valuable in the screening of CAD