Coronary artery stent evaluation by combining iterative reconstruction and high-resolution kernel at coronary CT angiography.

Purpose: To evaluate stent lumen visualization by combining high-resolution cardiac kernel and the iterative reconstruction (iDose) on an anthropomorphic moving heart phantom and in patients at coronary computed tomography (CT) angiography.

Materials And Methods: We used the moving heart phantom and a 64 detector-row CT, retrospectively gated helical scanning, and image reconstruction. The heart rate was set at nonpulsating condition of 0 beats/min, 50 beats/min, and 80 beats/min. The 120-kV images were reconstructed in synchronization with electrocardiogram data using filtered back projection (FBP) or iDose algorithm and standard kernel/filter (CB) or high-resolution kernel/filter (CD). We measured image noise, the kurtosis, and stent lumen diameter in the phantom study. We also assessed the visual inspections by two radiologists.

Results: With cardiac motion at 50 and 80 beats/min, the difference of kurtosis improved with CD relative to CB (P < .05). iDose algorithm with level 7 provided lowest noise, with no statistically significance in difference of the kurtosis relative to level 4 (P > .05). Without cardiac motion at 0 beats/min, the stent lumen diameter measurements with CD kernel were better relative to CB kernel (P < .05). In addition, no significant difference was found in stent lumen diameter between iDose level 4 and level 7 (P > .05).

Conclusion: The use of iDose and a sharp kernel allowed improved stent visualization at a lower radiation dose.