Radiology: Volume 249: Number 1—October 2008
Ammar Sarwar, MD Johannes Rieber, MD ElineA. Q. Mooyaart, MS Sujith K. Seneviratne, MBBS Stuart L Houser, MD Fabian Bamberg, MD 0. Christopher Ratfel, MD Rajiv Gupta, PhD, MD Mannudeep K. Kalra, MD Homer Pien, PhD Hang Lee, PhD Thomas J. Brady, MD Udo Hoffmann, MD.MPH
The purpose of this study was to assess the blooming artifacts in ex vivo coronary arteries at multidetector com¬puted tomography (CT) and flat-panel-volume CT by com¬paring measured areas of calcified plaque with respect to the reference standard of histopathologic findings. Three ex vivo hearts were scanned with multidetector CT and flat-panel-volume CT after institutional review board ap¬proval. The area of calcified plaque was measured at his¬topathologic examination, multidetector CT, and flat-panel-volume CT. The plaque area was overestimated at multide¬tector CT by 400% (4.61/1.15) on average, and the predicted difference between the measurements was sig¬nificant (3.46 mm2, P = .018). The average overestimation of plaque area at flat-panel-volume CT was twofold (214% [2.18/1.02]), and the predicted difference was smaller (1.16 mm2, P — .08). The extent of the blooming artifact in visualizing calcified coronary plaque is reduced by using flat-panel-volume CT.