Assessment of calcium scoring performance in cardiac computed tomography

Electron beam tomography (EBT) has been used for cardiac diagnosis and the quantitative assessment of coronary calcium since the late 1980s. The introduction of mechanical multi-slice spiral CT (MSCT) scanners with shorter rotation times opened new possibilities of cardiac imaging with conventional CT scanners. The purpose of this work was to qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate the performance for EBT and MSCT for the task of coronary artery calcium imaging as a function of acquisition protocol, heart rate, spiral reconstruction algorithm (where applicable) and calcium scoring method. A cardiac CT semi-anthropomorphic phantom was designed and manufactured for the investigation of all relevant image quality parameters in cardiac CT. This phantom includes various test objects, some of which can be moved within the anthropomorphic phantom in a manner that mimics realistic heart motion. These tools were used to qualitatively and quantitatively demonstrate the accuracy of coronary calcium imaging using typical protocols for an electron beam (Evolution C-150XP, Imatron, South San Francisco, Calif.) and a 0.5-s four-slice spiral CT scanner (Sensation 4, Siemens, Erlangen, Germany). A special focus was put on the method of quantifying coronary calcium, and three scoring systems were evaluated (Agatston, volume, and mass scoring). Good reproducibility in coronary calcium scoring is always the result of a combination of high temporal and spatial resolution; consequently, thin-slice protocols in combination with retrospective gating on MSCT scanners yielded the best results. The Agatston score was found to be the least reproducible scoring method. The hydroxyapatite mass, being better reproducible and comparable on different scanners and being a physical quantitative measure, appears to be the method of choice for future clinical studies. The hydroxyapatite mass is highly correlated to the Agatston score. The introduced phantoms can be used to quantitatively assess the performance characteristics of, for example, different scanners, reconstruction algorithms, and quantification methods in cardiac CT. This is especially important for quantitative tasks, such as the determination of the amount of calcium in the coronary arteries, to achieve high and constant quality in this field.