Application value of triple rule-out CT angiography in emergency chest pain examination

Liu Jiayi; Yan Zixu; Zhang Nan; Sun Yanchun; Liu Dongting; Li Yu; Wen Zhaoying; Yu Wei; Fan Zhanming

doi:10.3760/cma.j.issn.1673-4777.2017.05.017

Abstract：Objective To evaluate the value of triple rule-out CT angiography(CTA) in emergency chest pain patients with GE Revolution CT.Methods Sixty-five patients with emergency chest pain were prospectively enrolled from October 2015 to April 2016 in Beijing Anzhen Hospital,Capital Medical University.The patients had triple rule-out CTA scanning and were divided into low heart rate(HR) group(＜70 times/min) and high HR group(≥70 times/min).Appropriate image reconstruction techniques were adopted for coronary artery,pulmonary artery and aorta.Image quality and diagnostic value of triple rule-out CTA were evaluated.Results The mean exposure time was (2.54 ± 0.15) s,including 0.30 s for coronary and pulmonary artery,(2.24 ± 0.15) s for whole aorta.The mean radiation dose was (7.3 ± 1.7)mSv (4.59-11.97 mSv).Aorta image quality score had no significant difference between high HR group and low HR group [(2.94 ± 0.34) scores vs (2.98 ± 0.12) scores](P ＞ 0.05).Pulmonary artery image quality score had no significant difference between high HR group and low HR group [(2.66 ± 0.58) scores vs (2.78 ± 0.54) scores] (P ＞ 0.05).Coronary artery image quality score in high HR group was signifi cantly lower than that in low HR group [(1.94 ± 0.66) scores vs (2.59 ± 0.57) scores](P ＜0.01).Mean CT values of different segments of aorta,pulmonary artery and coronary artery were above 300 HU.CT value,signal-to-noise ratio and contrast-to-noise ratio had no significant difference between groups (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusions Triple rule-out CTA shows short exposure time,low radiation dose and large coverage range;high quality images of whole aorta,pulmonary artery and coronary artery can be acquired for emergency chest pain examination.The image quality of coronary is affected by high HR.