Paper
8 April 1996 Noninvasive coronary artery angiography using electron beam computed tomography
John A. Rumberger, Benno J. Rensing, Judd E. Reed, Erik Leo Ritman M.D., Patrick F. Sheedy II
Author Affiliations +
Abstract
Electron beam computed tomography (EBCT), also known as ultrafast-CT or cine-CT, uses a unique scanning architecture which allows for multiple high spatial resolution electrocardiographic triggered images of the beating heart. A recent study has demonstrated the feasibility of qualitative comparisons between EBCT derived 3D coronary angiograms and invasive angiography. Stenoses of the proximal portions of the left anterior descending and right coronary arteries were readily identified, but description of atherosclerotic narrowing in the left circumflex artery (and distal epicardial disease) was not possible with any degree of confidence. Although these preliminary studies support the notion that this approach has potential, the images overall were suboptimal for clinical application as an adjunct to invasive angiography. Furthermore, these studies did not examine different methods of EBCT scan acquisition, tomographic slice thicknesses, extent of scan overlap, or other segmentation, thresholding, and interpolation algorithms. Our laboratory has initiated investigation of these aspects and limitations of EBCT coronary angiography. Specific areas of research include defining effects of cardiac orientation; defining the effects of tomographic slice thickness and intensity (gradient) versus positional (shaped based) interpolation; and defining applicability of imaging each of the major epicardial coronary arteries for quantitative definition of vessel size, cross-sectional area, taper, and discrete vessel narrowing.
© (1996) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
John A. Rumberger, Benno J. Rensing, Judd E. Reed, Erik Leo Ritman M.D., and Patrick F. Sheedy II "Noninvasive coronary artery angiography using electron beam computed tomography", Proc. SPIE 2709, Medical Imaging 1996: Physiology and Function from Multidimensional Images, (8 April 1996); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.237853
Advertisement
Advertisement
RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission  Get copyright permission on Copyright Marketplace
KEYWORDS
Angiography

Arteries

Tomography

Image segmentation

Heart

3D image processing

Computed tomography

Back to Top