Coronary CTA Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Quicker Examination Protocol with Preserved Image Quality Using a...

There has been an ongoing debate on the means to minimize the time patients spend at health care providers during the COVID-19 pandemic. We propose a strategy relying solely on intravenous (i.v.) beta-blocker administration for heart-rate (HR) control prior to coronary CT angiography (CCTA). We aimed to assess a potential difference in CCTA image quality (IQ) after implementation of a modified strategy compared to our standard protocol of oral premedication during the first wave of COVID-19. We analyzed CCTA examinations conducted one year before (n = 1511) and after (n = 1064) implementation of this new regime. Examinations were performed both on our 256-slice multidetector CT (MDCT) and dedicated cardiac CT (DCCT) scanners. We used a four-point Likert scale (excellent/good/moderate/non-diagnostic) for IQ assessment of the coronaries. We detected a significant increase in mean HR during examinations on both CT scanners (MDCT: 62.4 ± 10.0 vs. 65.3 ± 9.7, p < 0.001; DCCT: 61.7 ± 15.2 vs. 65.0 ± 10.7, p < 0.001). The rate of moderate/non-diagnostic IQ significantly increased on the MDCT (192/1005, 19.1% vs. 144/466, 30.9%, p < 0.001), while this ratio did not change significantly on the DCCT (62/506, 12.3% vs. 84/598, 14.0%, p = 0.38). The improved temporal resolution of DCCT allows the stand-alone use of i.v. premedication with preserved IQ; hence, the duration of visits can be shortened.