Angina Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Angina, including details on symptoms, treatment, causes, prevention, surgery.

Evaluation of computed tomography coronary angiography in patients with a high heart rate using 16-slice spiral computed tomography with 0.37-s gantry rotation time.

Zhang SZ, Hu XH, Zhang QW, Huang WX

Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University Medical College, Hangzhou, China. zhangsz@chinaradiology.org

The aim of our study is to evaluate computed tomography (CT) coronary angiography in patients with a high heart rate using 16-slice spiral CT with 0.37-s gantry rotation time. We compare the image quality of patients whose heart rates were over 70 beats per minute (bpm) with that of patients whose heart rates were 70 bpm or less. Sixty patients with various heart rates underwent retrospectively ECG-gated multislice spiral CT (MSCT) coronary angiography. Two experienced observers who were blind to the heart rates of the patients evaluated all the MSCT coronary angiographic images and calculated the assessable segments. A total of 620 out of 891 (69.6%) segments were satisfactorily visualized. On average, 10.3 coronary artery segments per patient could be evaluated. In 36 patients whose heart rates were below 70 bpm [mean 62.2 bpm+/-5.32 (standard deviation, SD)], the number of assessable segments was 10.72+/-2.02 (SD). In the other 24 patients whose heart rates were above 70 bpm [mean 78.6 bpm+/-8.24 (SD)], the corresponding number was 9.75+/-1.74 (SD). No statistically significant difference was found in these two subgroups' t test, P>0.05. The new generation of 16-slice spiral CT with 0.37-s rotation time can satisfactorily evaluate the coronary arteries of patients with high heart rates (above 70 bpm, up to 102 bpm).

Published 20 May 2005 in Eur Radiol, 15(6): 1105-9.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 Angina Research Today. All Rights Reserved.