New approach to noninvasive coronary angiography by multidetector computed tomography: initial experience using gadolinium

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the gadolinium performance for 16-detector-row coronary computed tomography (CT) angiography. METHODS: Ethics committee approval and informed consent were obtained. Ten patients with coronary artery disease underwent digital coronary angiography and gadolinium-enhanced CT coronary angiography (Gd-CTCA) within the same week. For the Gd-CTCA, each patient received a dose of 0.3 mmol/kg of body weight of 0.5 mmol/mL gadoterate meglumine. Two readers interpreted the CT angiographies independently, and their results were matched with the digital angiography findings. The diagnostic accuracy of Gd-CTCA was calculated by the exact binomial method. RESULTS: Sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were for observer 1: 91.67%, 98.73%, 84.62%, and 99.36%, and for observer 2: 83.33%, 98.73%, 83.33%, and 98.73%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Preliminary results demonstrated that gadolinium chelates may be used as an alternative CT contrast media in coronary CT angiographies, without detriment to diagnosis results.