Combined anatomical and functional imaging using coronary CT angiography and myocardial perfusion SPECT in symptomatic adults with abnormal origin of a coronary artery.

There has been a lack of standardized workup guidelines for patients with congenital abnormal origin of a coronary artery from the opposite sinus (ACAOS). We aimed to evaluate the use of cardiac hybrid imaging using multi-detector row CT (MDCT) for coronary CT angiography (Coronary CTA) and stress-rest myocardial perfusion SPECT (MPS) for comprehensive diagnosis of symptomatic adult patients with ACAOS. Seventeen symptomatic patients (12 men; 54 ± 13 years) presenting with ACAOS underwent coronary CTA and MPS. Imaging data were analyzed by conventional means, and with additional use of 3D image fusion to allocate stress induced perfusion defects (PD) to their supplying coronary arteries. An anomalous RCA arose from the left anterior sinus in eight patients, an abnormal origin from the right sinus was detected in nine patients (5 left coronary arteries, LCA and 4 LCx). Five of the 17 patients (29%) demonstrated a reversible PD in MPS. There was no correlation between the anatomical variants of ACAOS and the presence of myocardial ischemia. Image fusion enabled the allocation of reversible PD to the anomalous vessel in three patients (two cases in the RCA and the other in the LCA territory); PD in two patients were allocated to the territory of artery giving rise to the anomalies, rather than the anomalies themselves. In a small cohort of adult symptomatic patients with ACAOS anomaly there was no relation found between the specific anatomical variant and the appearance of stress induced myocardial ischemia using cardiac hybrid imaging.

Combined use of 64-slice computed tomography angiography and gated myocardial perfusion SPECT for the detection of functionally relevant coronary artery stenoses. First results in a clinical setting concerning patients with stable angina.

AIM: In patients with stable angina pectoris both morphological and functional information about the coronary artery tree should be present before revascularization therapy is performed. High accuracy was shown for spiral computed tomography (MDCT) angiography acquired with a 64-slice CT scanner compared to invasive coronary angiography (ICA) in detecting "obstructive" coronary artery disease (CAD). Gated myocardial SPECT (MPI) is an established method for the noninvasive assessment of functional significance of coronary stenoses. Aim of the study was to evaluate the combination of 64-slice CT angiography plus MPI in comparison to ICA plus MPI in the detection of hemodynamically relevant coronary artery stenoses in a clinical setting. PATIENTS, METHODS: 30 patients (63 +/- 10.8 years, 23 men) with stable angina (21 with suspected, 9 with known CAD) were investigated. MPI, 64-slice CT angiography and ICA were performed, reversible and fixed perfusion defects were allocated to determining lesions separately for MDCT angiography and ICA. The combination of MDCT angiography plus MPI was compared to the results of ICA plus MPI. RESULTS: Sensitivity, specificity, negative and positive predictive value for the combination of MDCT angiography plus MPI was 85%, 97%, 98% and 79%, respectively, on a vessel-based and 93%, 87%, 93% and 88%, respectively, on a patient-based level. 19 coronary arteries with stenoses > or =50% in both ICA and MDCT angiography showed no ischemia in MPI. CONCLUSION: The combination of 64-slice CT angiography and gated myocardial SPECT enabled a comprehensive non-invasive view of the anatomical and functional status of the coronary artery tree.

[Detection and characterization of atherosclerotic coronary plaques with multislice spiral computed tomography]. / Kardiale Risikostratifizierung: Den atherosklerotischen Plaque im Blick.

Provided that adequate image quality is achieved, contrast-enhanced multislice spiral computed tomography enables the identification and characterisation of calcified and non-calcified coronary plaques. This is a major advance in the non-invasive assessment of coronary atherosclerosis that promises to open up new opportunities for a better understanding and risk stratification of this condition, with visualization of non-calcified hypodense lesions in particular appearing to be of prognostic importance. Current limitations of the technique relating mainly to temporal and spatial resolution may be eliminated by the introduction of a new generation of scanners enabling 64 slices and more.