动态容积320排冠状动脉CT血管成像诊断冠状动脉疾病的意义

目的：研究320排动态容积冠状动脉CT成像（CCTA）诊断冠状动脉疾病（CAD）的可行性。方法：5961例临床诊断CAD的患者进行CCTA检查,其中186例接受常规X线冠状动脉造影术（CAG）,对照分析其检查结果。1490例接受CCTA检查的健康查体者作为对照。结果：成像质量均在I～III级,无呼吸伪影图像。在186例CAD患者中,CCTA诊断冠状动脉狭窄（狭窄度≥50％）的敏感性为96．72％,特异性98．95％,阳性预测值95．16％,阴性预测值99．30％,准确度98．56％。结论：320排动态容积CT冠状动脉成像图像清晰,对诊断CAD具有重要的临床价值。     

基于CCTA的冠状动脉周围脂肪组织影像组学特征预测急性冠状动脉综合征

目的 评估基于冠状动脉CT血管成像（CCTA）的冠状动脉周围脂肪组织（PCAT）影像组学特征对疑似冠心病病人2年内发生急性冠状动脉综合征（ACS）的预测能力。方法 回顾性收集接受CCTA检查的疑似冠心病病人,将CCTA检查后2年内发生ACS的病人作为ACS组（81例）,2年内未发生ACS的疑似冠心病病人作为对照组（81例）。ACS组年龄44~85岁,平均（64.01±10.09）岁,男57例;对照组年龄39~89岁,平均（62.91±10.11）岁,男56例。将2组病人随机以 3∶1 的比例分为训练集（ACS组60例,对照组60例）和验证集（ACS组21例,对照组21例）。筛选基于CCTA的PCAT影像组学特征,采用多因素Logistic回归分析构建PCAT影像组学评分模型,并基于PCAT影像组学特征中的CT密度值建立PCAT密度模型。采用DeLong检验比较不同数据集中2个模型的诊断效能差异。采用受试者操作特征（ROC）曲线、校准曲线及决策曲线比较2种模型的预测效能。结果 训练集和验证集中,ACS组和对照组病人的临床资料间差异均无统计学意义（均P>0.05）。从基于CCTA影像所示的冠状动脉斑块周围PCAT共提取107个影像组学特征,最终筛选出21个最优影像组学特征,包括形态学特征5个、直方图特征1个、纹理特征15个,采用Logistic回归分析构建PCAT影像组学评分模型。基于提取的PCAT组学特征中平均 CT密度值构建PCAT密度模型。2种模型预测2年内发生ACS事件的诊断效能分析显示,PCAT 影像组学评分模型在训练集及验证集中的曲线下面积（AUC）（AUC=0.841,0.839） 均高于PCAT 密度的AUC（AUC=0.603,0.588）。训练集中,PCAT影像组学评分的诊断效能优于PCAT密度模型（P<0.05）,并在验证集中得到验证（P<0.05）。PCAT影像组学评分对发生ACS事件的预测结果与实际结果一致性高于PCAT密度。PCAT影像组学评分的临床应用价值显著优于PCAT 密度。结论 基于CCTA 的PCAT影像组学特征可为ACS事件的发生提供更多的预测信息。PCAT 影像组学评分对2年内发生ACS事件的预测能力显著优于PCAT 密度。     

冠状动脉血流储备分数、心肌血流储备和微循环阻力指数在冠心病患者中的临床应用价值

通过对冠状动脉性心脏病（CAD）进行准确、有效地冠状动脉生理学功能状况评估,有利于客观评价CAD的危险程度、选择合适的治疗策略以改善患者预后。目前临床上评价冠状动脉生理学功能的常用的指标包括血流储备分数（FFR）、心肌血流储备（MFR）和微循环阻力指数（IMR）,可通过无创或有创的方法获得。笔者就FFR、MFR和IMR在CAD患者中的临床应用价值作一综述。     

CCTA技术对冠状动脉狭窄及其钙化斑块的评估

冠状动脉CT血管成像（CCTA）是一种可无创检测冠状动脉粥样硬化性疾病的成像手段,已成为临床筛查及诊断冠心病的首要检查方法。但对于钙化严重的冠状动脉节段,CCTA的特异性及阳性预测值偏低,可导致病人过度治疗,因此限制了CCTA的临床应用。综述钙化斑块伪影对CCTA的影响,并就CCTA对冠状动脉狭窄准确评估的相关技术进展进行分析,以利于临床诊断中提高CCTA对冠状动脉狭窄率的评估。     

胸痛影像学评估的前瞻性多中心研究及进展

胸痛评估的前瞻性多中心影像学研究（PROMISE）始于2010年,该研究分析症状稳定的疑似冠心病病人首选冠状动脉CT血管成像（CCTA）进行解剖学检查或首选无创性功能学检查,旨在探究病人临床结局的差异。PROMISE研究了CCTA、功能学检查及冠状动脉钙化积分和CT血流储备分数等无创性检查方法对疑似冠心病的稳定性胸痛病人的预后价值,并探讨了生物标志物、年龄、性别、代谢性疾病对稳定性胸痛病人的影响。此外,PROMISE开发并验证了风险分层模型和个体化选择检查方法的工具。PROMISE对CCTA和功能学检查的应用产生了很大的影响,为疑似冠心病病人无创检查方法的选择提供了重要循证依据。     

基于冠状动脉CT钙化积分图像与血管成像测量冠状动脉周围脂肪衰减指数的对比研究

目的:探索不同阈值下基于冠状动脉钙化积分（CCS）图像测得的冠状动脉周围脂肪衰减指数（FAI）与基于冠状动脉CT血管成像（CCTA）图像测量结果的差异,并探讨基于CCS方法测量FAI的可行性并探索合适阈值。方法:回顾性分析2019年8月至2020年8月于苏州大学附属第一医院行CCTA检查患者的临床及影像学资料,按纳排标...     

智能期相选择重组在高心率儿童冠状动脉CTA中的应用

目的 评估智能期相（SP）选择重组技术用于高心率儿童冠状动脉CT血管成像（CCTA）的可行性及影像质量。方法 收集2018年1月-4月拟诊为川崎病冠状动脉瘤或冠状动脉起源发育异常要求行CCTA检查的患儿28例（冠状动脉血管及其分支共420支）,其中男13例,女15例,平均年龄（4.4±3.0）岁,平均心率（99.2±18.0）次/min。采用GE Revolution 256层宽体CT行CCTA检查,对扫描原始数据分别采用SP选择技术（SP组）和手动期相选择技术（MP组）对影像重组。重组影像由2位放射医师采用美国心脏协会推荐的冠状动脉15分段法进行评分,评分采用4分制。采用配对t检验比较MP组和SP组重组影像中冠状动脉及其分支的主观评分。2位评分者之间的一致性采用Kappa检验分析。结果 CCTA共显示386支冠状动脉血管及其分支,其中S10节段有15例患儿显示,S14节段有24例显示,S15节段有11例显示,其余血管节段在28例中全部显示。2位医师影像评分一致性中等（κ=0.62）。重组影像主观评分均满足诊断要求,其中MP组对S3、S9、S14段的评分高于SP组（P<0.05）,其余各段评分差异无统计学意义（P>0.05）。28例患儿中SP 与MP的重组期相诊断一致率为85.7%（24/28）。结论 使用SP选择重组技术对高心率儿童行CCTA检查可以获得满足诊断的影像质量,同时可以节省时间提高工作效率。     

冠状动脉CTA管腔内衰减梯度的应用进展

冠状动脉CTA(coronary CTA, CCTA)已成为冠状动脉疾病无创筛查的首选检查方法。然而CCTA只能提供冠状动脉解剖学信息,无法提供血流动力学的改变。随着CCTA新技术的发展,CCTA管腔内衰减梯度(transluminal attenuation gradient, TAG)可以提供更多的功能学信息。本文对TAG在冠状动脉疾病中的应用进行综述。     

迭代重建技术的进展及其在冠状动脉CT血管成像中的应用

随着CT影像技术的不断发展及计算机性能的不断提高,传统CT影像重建算法——滤波反投影技术（FBP）受到明显制约,而迭代重建技术（IR）得以迅速发展并成功应用于临床。冠状动脉CT血管成像（CCTA）是CT影像检查的重要组成,IR技术在降低CCTA辐射剂量、减轻钙化斑块和冠状动脉支架伪影、提高粥样斑块显示等方面具有重要的临床价值,就IR技术的进展及其在CCTA中的应用予以综述。     

NT-proBNP与急性ST段抬高型心肌梗死患者SYNTAX评分的相关性研究

目的探讨NT-proBNP水平与急性ST段抬高型心肌梗（ST elevation myocardial infarction,STEMI）死患者SYNTAX积分（SS）的关系及意义。 方法回顾性分析2019年1月至2019年12月于中山大学附属第五医院心血管病中心诊断急性ST段抬高型心肌梗死（STEMI）,并在发病后12 h内行急诊PCI治疗的105例患者的临床资料,计算每例患者的SYNTAX评分,根据得分情况将105例患者分为低分组、中分组、高分组,分析组间差异,并进一步评估NT-proBNP与SYNTAX评分之间的关系。 结果105例患者平均年龄55.10±11.67岁（29~84岁）,其中男性患者92例,女性13例。根据SYNTAX得分情况分组,其中低分组18例,中分组38例,高分组49例。三组患者在基线水平比较上无统计学差异;但三组患者在左室射血分数（LVEF）、NT-proBNP、肌钙蛋白I、谷草转氨酶、乳酸脱氢酶、α-羟丁酸脱氢酶、肌酸激酶、肌酸激酶同工酶上存在显著显著统计学差异,P值均<0.05。相关性分析提示NT-proBNP与SYNTAX评分之间存在相关性,相关系数r=0.223,P=0.022。 结论对于行急诊PCI术治疗的STEMI患者,测定NT-proBNP水平可以提供除LVEF、SS评分之外评估心脏损伤程度及心脏功能的因素,可预测临床结局及指导远期治疗策略。     

Pre-procedural planning of coronary revascularization by cardiac computed tomography: An expert consensus document of the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography

Coronary CT angiography (CCTA) demonstrated high diagnostic accuracy for detecting coronary artery disease (CAD) and a key role in the management of patients with low-to-intermediate pretest likelihood of CAD. However, the clinical information provided by this noninvasive method is still regarded insufficient in patients with diffuse and complex CAD and for planning percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and surgical revascularization procedures. On the other hand, technology advancements have recently shown to improve CCTA diagnostic accuracy in patients with diffuse and calcific stenoses. Moreover, stress CT myocardial perfusion imaging (CT-MPI) and fractional flow reserve derived from CCTA (CT-FFR) have been introduced in clinical practice as new tools for evaluating the functional relevance of coronary stenoses, with the possibility to overcome the main CCTA drawback, i.e. anatomical assessment only. The potential value of CCTA to plan and guide interventional procedures lies in the wide range of information it can provide: a) detailed evaluation of plaque extension, volume and composition; b) prediction of procedural success of CTO PCI using scores derived from CCTA; c) identification of coronary lesions requiring additional techniques (e.g., atherectomy and lithotripsy) to improve stent implantation success by assessing calcium score and calcific plaque distribution; d) assessment of CCTA-derived Syntax Score and Syntax Score II, which allows to select the mode of revascularization (PCI or CABG) in patients with complex and multivessel CAD.The aim of this Consensus Document is to review and discuss the available data supporting the role of CCTA, CT-FFR and stress CT-MPI in the preprocedural and possibly intraprocedural planning and guidance of myocardial revascularization interventions.     

Coronary CT angiography after stress testing: An efficient use of resources? Implications of the Advanced Cardiovascular Imaging Consortium (ACIC) results

Coronary CT angiography (CCTA) has matured to be a fast noninvasive imaging test in the evaluation of coronary artery disease (CAD). It has demonstrated excellent accuracy for defining the presence and the severity of luminal coronary artery stenoses and is probably the best noninvasive test to reliably exclude atherosclerotic coronary disease. Furthermore, accumulating CCTA data indicate that it can identify individuals at risk for all-cause mortality. It is also well known that despite the wealth of data regarding diagnostic and prognostic values of stress testing in CAD, up to 10% of stress imaging studies are considered inconclusive, leading to subsequent invasive coronary angiography for definitive diagnosis often with negative results. Moreover, recent data indicate that up to 30 % of patients undergoing angiography have no significant CAD despite a majority of them having had a prior stress test. Whether CCTA can serve as a cost-effective methodology to invasive angiography has been a source of active research. In this context, we will discuss the implications of the recently published data from the Advanced Cardiovascular Imaging Consortium registry looking at the use of CCTA after stress testing in Michigan.     

CT-FFR对冠状动脉狭窄功能评价的临床价值

CT冠状动脉血流储备分数(CT-FFR)可无创性检查冠状动脉粥样硬化性心脏病(冠心病),是一种结合了解剖与功能的检查方法。CT-FFR是基于冠状动脉CT血管成像(CCTA)的影像数据测得的,具有CCTA和冠状动脉血流储备分数(FFR)的优势。CT-FFR从解剖学方面评估病变的狭窄程度,同时可以从血流动力学方面测定狭窄冠状动脉是否存在缺血及缺血的严重程度。综述总结了CT-FFR的优势、诊段效能及其临床应用。     

The Journal of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography year in review - 2018

Since the introduction of ≥64 detector row coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) as a noninvasive imaging modality, various clinical trials have established its diagnostic performance and prognostic significance when compared to other anatomic and functional tests for coronary artery disease (CAD). CCTA has been increasingly utilized for a wide range of clinical scenarios, driven by both advances in technology as well as data showing improvement in outcomes. Accumulating evidence has continually refined and supported the central role of CCTA within clinical care, and this year has witnessed continued evolution of the application of CCTA within healthcare and translational research. The purpose of the present review is to summarize the year of the Journal of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (JCCT), highlighting the evidence base supporting the appropriate application of cardiac computed tomography across numerous clinical domains.     

Maximization of the usage of coronary CTA derived plaque information using a machine learning based algorithm to improve risk stratification; insights from the CONFIRM registry

IntroductionMachine learning (ML) is a field in computer science that demonstrated to effectively integrate clinical and imaging data for the creation of prognostic scores. The current study investigated whether a ML score, incorporating only the 16 segment coronary tree information derived from coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA), provides enhanced risk stratification compared with current CCTA based risk scores.MethodsFrom the multi-center CONFIRM registry, patients were included with complete CCTA risk score information and ≥3 year follow-up for myocardial infarction and death (primary endpoint). Patients with prior coronary artery disease were excluded. Conventional CCTA risk scores (conventional CCTA approach, segment involvement score, duke prognostic index, segment stenosis score, and the Leaman risk score) and a score created using ML were compared for the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Only 16 segment based coronary stenosis (0%, 1–24%, 25–49%, 50–69%, 70–99% and 100%) and composition (calcified, mixed and non-calcified plaque) were provided to the ML model. A boosted ensemble algorithm (extreme gradient boosting; XGBoost) was used and the entire data was randomly split into a training set (80%) and testing set (20%). First, tuned hyperparameters were used to generate a trained model from the training data set (80% of data). Second, the performance of this trained model was independently tested on the unseen test set (20% of data).ResultsIn total, 8844 patients (mean age 58.0 ± 11.5 years, 57.7% male) were included. During a mean follow-up time of 4.6 ± 1.5 years, 609 events occurred (6.9%). No CAD was observed in 48.7% (3.5% event), non-obstructive CAD in 31.8% (6.8% event), and obstructive CAD in 19.5% (15.6% event). Discrimination of events as expressed by AUC was significantly better for the ML based approach (0.771) vs the other scores (ranging from 0.685 to 0.701), P < 0.001. Net reclassification improvement analysis showed that the improved risk stratification was the result of down-classification of risk among patients that did not experience events (non-events).ConclusionA risk score created by a ML based algorithm, that utilizes standard 16 coronary segment stenosis and composition information derived from detailed CCTA reading, has greater prognostic accuracy than current CCTA integrated risk scores. These findings indicate that a ML based algorithm can improve the integration of CCTA derived plaque information to improve risk stratification.     

What have we learned from CONFIRM? Prognostic implications from a prospective multicenter international observational cohort study of consecutive patients undergoing coronary computed tomographic angiography

Coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA) employing CT scanners of 64-detector rows or greater represents a novel non-invasive method for detection of coronary artery disease (CAD), providing excellent diagnostic information when compared to invasive angiography. In addition to its high diagnostic performance, prior studies have shown that CCTA can provide important prognostic information, although these prior studies have been generally limited to small cohorts at single centers. The Coronary CT Angiography Evaluation for Clinical Outcomes: An International Multicenter registry, or CONFIRM, is a large, prospective, multinational, dynamic observational cohort study of patients undergoing CCTA. This registry currently represents more than 32,000 consecutive adults suspected of having CAD who underwent ??64-detector row CCTA at 12 centers in 6 countries between 2005 and 2009. Based on its large sample size and adequate statistical power, the data derived from CONFIRM registry have and will continue to provide key answers to many important topics regarding CCTA. Based on its multisite international national design, the results derived from CONFIRM should be considered as more generalizable than prior smaller single-center studies. This article summarizes the current status of several studies from CONFIRM registry.     

Downstream resource utilization following hybrid cardiac imaging with an integrated cadmium-zinc-telluride/64-slice CT device

Purpose

Low yield of invasive coronary angiography and unnecessary coronary interventions have been identified as key cost drivers in cardiology for evaluation of coronary artery disease (CAD). This has fuelled the search for noninvasive techniques providing comprehensive functional and anatomical information on coronary lesions. We have evaluated the impact of implementation of a novel hybrid cadmium-zinc-telluride (CZT)/64-slice CT camera into the daily clinical routine on downstream resource utilization.

Methods

Sixty-two patients with known or suspected CAD were referred for same-day single-session hybrid evaluation with CZT myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) and coronary CT angiography (CCTA). Hybrid MPI/CCTA images from the integrated CZT/CT camera served for decision-making towards conservative versus invasive management. Based on the hybrid images patients were classified into those with and those without matched findings. Matched findings were defined as the combination of MPI defect with a stenosis by CCTA in the coronary artery subtending the respective territory. All patients with normal MPI and CCTA as well as those with isolated MPI or CCTA finding or combined but unmatched findings were categorized as ??no match??.

Results

All 23 patients with a matched finding underwent invasive coronary angiography and 21 (91%) were revascularized. Of the 39 patients with no match, 5 (13%, p?p?Conclusion Cardiac hybrid imaging in CAD evaluation has a profound impact on patient management and may contribute to optimal downstream resource utilization.     

Prognostic value of cardiovascular CT: Is coronary artery calcium screening enough? The added value of CCTA

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the primary cause of death in adults in the United States. Only 50% of patients who present with a myocardial infarction have a prior history of CAD. Non-invasive cardiac imaging tests have been developed to diagnose CAD. Current guidelines and systematic reviews have tried to determine the prognostic value of the coronary artery calcium (CAC) scoring and the coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) for major adverse cardiovascular events. Several studies support the roles of CCTA and CAC scoring for the diagnosis of CAD in asymptomatic patients. Further studies are needed to confirm the superior role of CCTA over CAC scoring in symptomatic patients.