Quantification of Coronary Artery Stenosis with 16-Slice MSCT in Patients before CABG Surgery: Comparison to Standard Invasive Coronary Angiography

2005 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Probst ◽  
A. Kovacs ◽  
C. Schmitz ◽  
W. Schiller ◽  
H. Schild ◽  
...  

Objective: Invasive, selective coronary angiography is the gold standard for evaluation of coronary artery disease (CAD) and degree of stenosis. The purpose of this study was to compare 3-dimensional (3D) reconstructed 16-slice multislice computed tomographic (MSCT) angiography and selective coronary angiography in patients before elective coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) procedure. Methods: Sixteen-slice MSCT scans (Philips Mx8000 IDT) were performed in 50 patients (42 male/8 female; mean age, 64.44 8.66 years) scheduled for elective CABG procedure. Scans were retrospectively electrocardiogram-gated 3D reconstructed. The images of the coronary arteries were evaluated for stenosis by 2 independent radiologists. The results were compared with the coronary angiography findings using the American Heart Association segmental classification for coronary arteries. Results: Four patients (8%) were excluded for technical reasons. Thirty-eight patients (82.6%) had 3-vessel disease, 4 (8.7 %) had 2-vessel disease, and 4 (8.7%) had an isolated left anterior descending artery stenosis. In the proximal segments all stenoses >50% (56/56) were detected by MSCT; medial segment sensitivity was 97% (73/75), specificity 90.3%; distal segment sensitivity was 90.7% (59/65), specificity 77%. Conclusion: Accurate quantification of coronary stenosis greater than 50% in the proximal and medial segments is possible with high sensitivity and specificity using the new generation of 16-slice MSCTs. There is still a tendency to overestimate stenosis in the distal segments. MSCT seems to be an excellent diagnostic tool for screening patients with possible CAD.

Author(s):  
Matthew I. Tomey

‘As an aid to diagnosis in ischaemic heart-disease’, Lancet editorialists wrote in 1966, coronary angiography ‘seems at present to offer little that cannot be more easily obtained by much simpler methods, such as good history-taking and electrocardiography’. Since its serendipitous origins at the Cleveland Clinic laboratory of Dr F. Mason Sones in 1958, selective coronary angiography has taken on central importance in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease and characterization of coronary anatomy prior to coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Performance has become simpler and safer, evolving from a brachial artery cut-down approach with stiff, large-calibre multipurpose catheters to percutaneous femoral, radial, and now ulnar approaches with softer, lower-profile catheters specially designed to atraumatically engage the coronary ostia.


2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Y Panahi ◽  
M S Ghahrodi ◽  
M S Jamshir ◽  
M A Safarpour ◽  
M Pirro ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Plasma PCSK9 levels, a novel and effective therapeutic target for CVD prevention, have been associated with CVD events irrespective of traditional risk factors. Whether PCSK9 levels predict coronary artery disease (CAD) burden and severity is a matter of dispute. Purpose To investigate the association between plasma PCSK9 levels and CAD characteristics, including number of major diseased vessels, severity of coronary stenosis, and the burden of coronary calcifications. Methods One hundred and one patients undergoing coronary angiography were recruited for this cross-sectional study. The number of major coronary diseased vessels was defined as the presence of ≥1 stenoses ≥50% in diameter of at least one major coronary artery. CAD severity was defined as either the absence of coronary stenosis (no-CAD), CAD<50% or CAD≥50% in one or more coronary arteries. The burden of coronary calcifications was estimated by angiography visual inspection and classified as absent, mild, moderate or severe. Results Coronary angiography showed single, double and triple vessel disease in 26 (25.7%), 23 (22.8%) and 21 (20.8%) patients, respectively; 20 (19.8%) and 11 (10.9%) pts had either minimal CAD (<50%) or normal angiographic findings. Also, calcifications were absent in 65 patients (64.4%), and mild, moderate and severe in 23 (22.8%), 11 (10.9%) and 2 (2%) patients, respectively. Plasma PCSK9 levels were significantly associated with age (rho=0.22, p=0.025) and SBP (rho=0.21, p=0.034), and were almost doubled in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) as compared to those without CKD [164.6 ng/mL (104.6–187.0) vs 94.8 ng/mL (86.8–114.9), p=0.006]. Among patients without CKD, those with CAD≥50% had higher plasma PCSK9 levels than those without [97.1 ng/mL (87.8–143.0) vs 83.2 ng/mL (73.4–102.6), p=0.04]. In the overall population, higher plasma PCSK9 levels were found in pts with triple vessel disease [165.7 ng/mL (121.3–180.5)] than in those with double/single vessel involvement [97.9 ng/mL (87.6–99.8) and 88.4 ng/mL (87.3–97.4), p<0.001 for both comparisons] or without CAD [87.5 ng/mL (74.3–114.9), p<0.001]. Also, a trend toward an increase of plasma PCSK9 levels was found with higher CAD severity [no-CAD: 87.5 ng/mL (74.3–114.9), CAD<50%: 89.1 ng/mL (78.9–105.3), CAD≥50%: 97.6 ng/mL (87.9–155.3), p=0.051], which turned significant after exclusion of CKD patients (p=0.042). Adjustment for age, sex, plasma LDL-cholesterol levels, statin use and CKD abolished the association between PCSK9 and CAD severity but not with the number of significantly diseased vessels and the burden of coronary calcifications. Conclusions Circulating PCSK9, whose plasma levels are significantly influenced by the presence of CKD, discriminates patients with significant coronary artery stenosis from those without CAD. In addition, both the number of diseased coronary vessels and total coronary calcifications are independently predicted by an elevated plasma PCSK9 level. Acknowledgement/Funding None


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