Preliminary evaluation of 64-slice spiral CT coronary angiograpy in patients with coronary artery disease

Objective To investigate the image quality and diagnostic accuracy using 64-slice spiral computed tomography (64-CTA) scanner in patients with suspected coronary artery disease. Methods Sixty eight patients with chest pain or post PTCA underwent CT coronary angiography (CTA) and selected coronary angiography (SCA). The SCA results were served as gold standard to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of CTA, while the sensitivity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) were calculated, respectively. Results 64-slice spiral CT could clearly demonstrate the coronary arterial trunk and branchs with stenosis, calcifications abnormal orifise origination and bridge vascular disease; especially with high accuracy in revealing calcification and even with quantification. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV of the degree of stenosis more than 75% for coronary artery segments evaluated by CTA were significantly higher than those of the degree of stenosis less than 50% for coronary artery segments(P 0.01). Conclusion CTA is a safe, simple and reliable noninvasive method for screening coronary artery disease in patients with chest pain. Moreover, 64-slice spiral CT could demonstrate not only the more delicate delineation of coronary arterial changes with 30 reconstruction and volume renderting but also the presence and quantity of calcium deposited on the vascular wall.