Impact of virtual monoenergetic levels on coronary plaque volume components using photon-counting computed tomography.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Virtual monoenergetic images (VMIs) from photon-counting CT (PCCT) may change quantitative coronary plaque volumes. We aimed to assess how plaque component volumes change with respect to VMIs.

Methods

Coronary CT angiography (CTA) images were acquired using a dual-source PCCT and VMIs were reconstructed between 40 and 180 keV in 10-keV increments. Polychromatic images at 120 kVp (T3D) were used as reference. Quantitative plaque analysis was performed on T3D images and segmentation masks were copied to VMI reconstructions. Calcified plaque (CP; > 350 Hounsfield units, HU), non-calcified plaque (NCP; 30 to 350 HU), and low-attenuation NCP (LAP; - 100 to 30 HU) volumes were calculated using fixed thresholds.

Results

We analyzed 51 plaques from 51 patients (67%

SUBMITTER: Vattay B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10667372 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature