Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Comparison of Performance of Micro-Computed Tomography (Micro-CT) and Synchrotron Radiation CT in Assessment of Coronary Stenosis Caused by Calcified Plaques

Version 1 : Received: 3 July 2023 / Approved: 4 July 2023 / Online: 4 July 2023 (11:15:11 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Ng, C.K.C.; Sun, Z.; Jansen, S. Comparison of Performance of Micro-Computed Tomography (Micro-CT) and Synchrotron Radiation CT in Assessing Coronary Stenosis Caused by Calcified Plaques in Coronary Artery Phantoms. J. Vasc. Dis. 2023, 2, 338-350. Ng, C.K.C.; Sun, Z.; Jansen, S. Comparison of Performance of Micro-Computed Tomography (Micro-CT) and Synchrotron Radiation CT in Assessing Coronary Stenosis Caused by Calcified Plaques in Coronary Artery Phantoms. J. Vasc. Dis. 2023, 2, 338-350.

Abstract

Synchrotron radiation computed tomography (SRCT) allows more accurate calcified plaque and coronary stenosis assessment as a result of its superior spatial resolution, however, typical micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) systems have even higher resolution. The purpose of this study was to compare performance of high-resolution micro-CT with SRCT in the assessment of calcified plaques and a previously published dataset of coronary stenosis assessment. This experimental study involved micro-CT scanning of three-dimensional printed coronary artery models with calcification in situ used in our previously published SRCT study on coronary stenosis assessment. Measurements of coronary stenosis utilizing both modalities were compared using a paired sample t-test. The degrees of stenosis measured on all but one micro-CT dataset were statistically significantly lower than the corresponding SRCT measurements reported in our previous paper (p<0.0005-0.05). This indicates that the superior spatial resolution of micro-CT was able to further reduce over-estimation of stenosis caused by extensive calcification of coronary arteries and hence false positive results. This study shows that high-resolution micro-CT outperforms SRCT in both calcified plaque and coronary stenosis assessment. This finding will become clinically important for cardiovascular event prediction and enable reclassification of individuals with low and intermediate risk into appropriate risk categories when the technical challenges of micro-CT in clinical practice such as the small field of view and demanding on image processing power are addressed.

Keywords

3D printing; accuracy; calcification; cardiovascular disease; computed tomography; coronary artery disease; coronary stenosis; micro-computed tomography; plaque; synchrotron radiation

Subject

Medicine and Pharmacology, Cardiac and Cardiovascular Systems

Comments (0)

We encourage comments and feedback from a broad range of readers. See criteria for comments and our Diversity statement.

Leave a public comment
Send a private comment to the author(s)
* All users must log in before leaving a comment
Views 0
Downloads 0
Comments 0
Metrics 0


×
Alerts
Notify me about updates to this article or when a peer-reviewed version is published.
We use cookies on our website to ensure you get the best experience.
Read more about our cookies here.