Author:
van Velzen S. G. M.,Dobrolinska M. M.,Knaapen P.,van Herten R. L. M.,Jukema R.,Danad I.,Slart R. H. J. A.,Greuter M. J. W.,Išgum I.
Abstract
Abstract
Background
We present an automatic method for coronary artery calcium (CAC) quantification and cardiovascular risk categorization in CT attenuation correction (CTAC) scans acquired at rest and stress during cardiac PET/CT. The method segments CAC according to visual assessment rather than the commonly used CT-number threshold.
Methods
The method decomposes an image containing CAC into a synthetic image without CAC and an image showing only CAC. Extensive evaluation was performed in a set of 98 patients, each having rest and stress CTAC scans and a dedicated calcium scoring CT (CSCT). Standard manual calcium scoring in CSCT provided the reference standard.
Results
The interscan reproducibility of CAC quantification computed as average absolute relative differences between CTAC and CSCT scan pairs was 75% and 85% at rest and stress using the automatic method compared to 121% and 114% using clinical calcium scoring. Agreement between automatic risk assessment in CTAC and clinical risk categorization in CSCT resulted in linearly weighted kappa of 0.65 compared to 0.40 between CTAC and CSCT using clinically used calcium scoring.
Conclusion
The increased interscan reproducibility achieved by our method may allow routine cardiovascular risk assessment in CTAC, potentially relieving the need for dedicated CSCT.
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine,Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and imaging
Cited by
2 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献