Multisegment and halfscan reconstruction of 16-slice computed tomography for detection of coronary artery stenoses

To compare the diagnostic accuracy and image quality of 2 reconstruction algorithms (multisegment and halfscan) for computed tomography (CT) coronary angiography in patients without beta-blocker medication.

Thirty-four patients with 42 significant coronary stenoses in 136 main coronary branches were examined using a 16-slice CT scanner (Aquilion, Toshiba, Otawara, Japan). Twenty-seven patients (79%) had heart rates above 65 beats/min.

Without exclusion of branches the sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and rate of nonassessable segments with multisegment versus halfscan reconstruction were 88 versus 74%, 91 versus 71%, 90 versus 72%, and 2 versus 21% (P < 0.01), respectively. Multisegment reconstruction improved the average vessel length free of motion artifacts by 56% compared with halfscan reconstruction (P < 0.01). Image quality in terms of vessel continuity and visibility of side branches (P < 0.005) was significantly better using multisegment reconstruction.

Multisegment reconstruction has superior diagnostic accuracy and image quality compared with halfscan reconstruction in patients with normal heart rates.