Reproducibility of aortic annulus measurements by computed tomography

To evaluate a systematic approach for measurement of aortic annulus dimensions by cardiac computed tomography. CT data sets of 64 patients were evaluated. An oblique cross-section aligned with the aortic root was created by systematically identifying the caudal insertion points of the three aortic cusps and sequentially aligning them in a double oblique plane. Aortic annulus dimensions, distances of coronary ostia and a suitable fluoroscopic projection angle were independently determined by two observers. Interobserver intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) for aortic annulus diameters were excellent (ICC 0.89-0.93). Agreement for prosthesis size selection was excellent (k = 0.86 for mean, k = 0.84 for area-derived and k = 0.91 for circumference-derived diameter). Mean distances of the left/right coronary ostium were 13.4 ± 2.4/14.4 ± 2.8 mm for observer 1 and 13.2 ± 2.7/13.5 ± 3.2 mm for observer 2 (p = 0.30 and p = 0.0001, respectively; ICC 0.76/0.77 for left/right coronary artery). A difference of less than 10 for fluoroscopic projection angle was achieved in 84.3 % of patients. A systematic approach to generate a double oblique imaging plane exactly aligned with the aortic annulus demonstrates high interobserver and intraobserver agreements for derived measurements which are not influenced by aortic root calcification. (orig.)