Low-Dose Computerized Tomography (CT) Imaging of Coronary Artery Stents: Potential Value of Sinogram Affirmed Iterative Reconstruction

To compare the quality of computerized tomography (CT) imaging of coronary artery stents between low tube voltage (100 kVp) scan combined with sinogram affirmed iterative reconstruction (SAFIRE) and routine tube voltage (120 kVp) scan combined with traditional filtered back projection (FBP).
The purpose of this study was to compare the quality of CT imaging of coronary artery stents between low tube voltage scan (100 kVp) combined with sinogram affirmed iterative reconstruction (SAFIRE) and routine tube voltage scan (120 kVp) with FBP.
Patients and Second generation dual source CT was performed on 156 patients with implanted coronary stents (group A, 86 cases with 100 kVp and SAFIRE; group B, 70 cases with 120 kVp and FBP). The mean attenuation, image noise, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), stent-lumen attenuation increase ratio (SAIR), image quality scores, lesion assessment of the stents, and radiation dosage were compared between the two groups.
The mean attenuation and SAIR of the aortic root, in-stent, and the coronary artery above the stent had no significant difference between the two groups (P 0.05). The diagnostic information of stents by 100 kVp combined with SAFIRE had no significant difference with those by 120 kVp FBP (P > 0.05). The effective dose of group A were about 51.5% lower than group B.
SAFIRE combined with lower tube voltage on coronary artery stent CT imaging could maintain image quality while significantly reduce the radiation dosage.