Subtraction Coronary CT Angiography for Calcified Lesions

• DOI: 10.1016/j.ccl.2011.10.004
• Publication Date: 2011-12-07T03:31:18Z
• Authors: Kunihiro Yoshioka; Ryoichi Tanaka; Kenta Muranaka
• Keywords: Subtraction

One of the main problems in coronary angiography using 64-row computed tomography (CT) is that the presence of severe calcification interferes with the assessment of lesions, which reduces diagnostic accuracy and may even make assessment of some coronary artery segments impossible. With 320-row CT, it is possible to avoid this problem by performing subtraction coronary CT, which fully exploits the performance capabilities of the CT system. However, subtraction coronary CT has several limitations. When these limitations have been overcome, this technique is expected to become a useful method for assessing patients with severe calcification and evaluating coronary artery stents.