What factors affected image quality in coronary multidetector-row computed tomography?

Although it is well known that we usually cannot acquire a high quality coronary multidetector-row CT (MDCT) in patients with arrhythmia or incomplete breath-hold, we sometimes also cannot obtain a high quality coronary MDCT in patients without arrhythmia or incomplete breath-hold. We studied what factors other than arrhythmia or incomplete breath-hold affected image quality. Coronary MDCT and echocardiography were performed within one month in 2145 patients, and 452 cases of arrhythmia or 102 cases of incomplete breath-hold during scanning were eliminated. The remaining 1591 patients were studied. Those patients were divided into two groups (mid-diastolic phase reconstruction (MD) group (N=1377) and end-systolic phase reconstruction (ES) group (N=214)). Age, body weight, mean heart rate (HR) during scanning, temporal resolution (TR) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) by echocardiography were estimated. Image quality (Excellent (3 points), Acceptable (2 points), Unacceptable (1 point)) was evaluated. The mean image quality points of the MD group (2.9±0.3) were significantly (P<0.0001) higher than the mean image quality points of the ES group (2.3±0.7), and the mean HR of the MD group (57±6 bpm) was significantly (P<0.0001) lower than that of the ES group (81±15 bpm). In the MD group, HR and TR were selected as significant factors affecting image quality by stepwise regression analysis. In the ES group, TR and HR were selected. In the ES subgroup with HR <90 bpm, TR and HR were selected; however, in the ES subgroup with HR ≥90 bpm, TR and LVEF were selected. In the MD group, low HR was important for high quality coronary MDCT. In the ES subgroup with HR <90, short TR and low HR were important; however, in the ES subgroup with HR ≥90 bpm, TR and LVEF were more important than HR. (author)