NEW YORK (Reuters Health), Nov 6 - The quality of images provided by 64-slice computed tomography (CT) coronary angiography may be high enough to avoid the need for invasive intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) in the assessment of coronary allograft vasculopathy.
A study conducted at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by Dr. Shawn A. Gregory and others comparing 64-slice multidetector CT (MDCT) with IVUS is published in the October 24th online issue of the American Journal of Cardiology.
In the study, 20 heart transplant patients were monitored with both IVUS and 64-slice MDCT periodically.
Dr. Gregory's team was able to visualize 95% of the overall length of the coronary arteries without motion artifacts. Compared with IVUS, 64-slice MDCT had a sensitivity of 70%, a specificity of 92%, a positive predictive value of 89% and a negative predictive power of 77% for the detection of coronary allograft vasculopathy.
The investigators conclude that MDCT offers "good to excellent image quality in heart transplant patients," despite their high heart rates and high BMIs, "and has moderate to excellent test characteristics for the detection of coronary allograft vasculopathy.
