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Image quality of three-dimensional electron beam coronary angiography
Bin Lu1, Nan Zhuang, Song-Shou Mao
1Department of Radiology, Cardiovascular Institute and FuWai Hospital, Peking Union Medical College, and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
Purpose:
This study identifies reasons for poor image quality and nonassessability of coronary artery segments and compares results between early and late diastolic triggering on coronary electron beam angiography (EBA).
Method:
One hundred patients referred for EBA were studied. Contrast-enhanced transaxial coronary images were acquired using electrocardiographic (ECG) triggering and reconstructed three dimensionally using volume-rendering techniques. The image quality of coronary segments and image artifacts were analyzed statistically.
Results:
Volume rendering failed in seven patients (7%) owing to cardiac and breathing motions. Image quality was the best with the left main (LM) and worst with the left circumflex (LCX) coronary arteries (p < 0.001). The image quality decreased systematically from proximal to distal within each coronary artery (p < 0.001). Forty percent R-R interval triggering on ECG was better than 80% for image quality. The nonassessable segments occurred in 3% of LM, 2, 8, and 5% of proximal, 24, 22, and 12% of mid, and 64, 45, and 20% of distal segments of the left anterior descending, LCX, and right coronary arteries, respectively (p < 0.05).
Conclusion:
The major limitations of coronary EBA were suboptimal spatial resolution and image artifacts. The image quality could be improved by using optimal ECG triggering.