Helical and Single-Slice Conventional CT Versus Electron Beam CT for the Quantification of Coronary Artery Calcification

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Abstract
OBJECTIVE. We compared electron beam CT with conventional CT to determine the best method for the assessment of the coronary calcium score. We used conventional CT to examine symptomatic and asymptomatic patients suspected of having coronary artery disease.SUBJECTS AND METHODS. One hundred sixty male patients underwent electron beam CT and helical CT with a pitch of 1 (n = 30) and 2 (n = 30) and using a single-slice mode with (n = 50) and without (n = 50) prospective ECG triggering. In another 50 patients, we determined reproducibility for repeated scanning using electron beam CT. For all images, we derived the calcium score according to the Agatston method. We performed regression analysis and determined mean variability. Mean variability was calculated as the ratio of the absolute difference to the mean of the corresponding calcium scores.RESULTS. The correlation coefficients for electron beam CT and all conventional CT modes were very high (range, 0.93-0.98). The mean variability was highest in the hel...