Comparison of Triple-Rule-Out Prospectively ECG-triggered Systolic and Diastolic Acquisition Protocol in Patients With Acute Chest Pain

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare image quality and coronary interpretability of triple-rule-out systolic and diastolic protocols in patients with acute chest pain. Materials and Methods: From March 2016 to October 2017 the authors prospectively enrolled patients with undifferentiated acute chest pain, who were at low to intermediate cardiovascular risk. Those with heart rate>75 bpm underwent a systolic prospectively triggered acquisition (systolic triggering [ST]), and in those with ≤75 bpm, end-diastolic triggering (DT) was instead performed. Examinations were evaluated for coronary artery disease, aortic dissection, and pulmonary embolism. Image quality was assessed using a Likert scale. Coronary arteries interpretability was evaluated both on a per-vessel and a per segment basis. The occurrence of major adverse cardiovascular events was investigated. Results: The final study population was 189 patients. Fifty-two patients (27.5%) underwent systolic acquisition and 137 (72.5%) underwent diastolic acquisition. No significant differences in overall image quality were observed between DT and ST groups (median score 5 [interquartile ranges 4 to 5] vs. 4 [interquartile ranges 4 to 5], P=0.074). Although both DT and ST protocols showed low percentages of noninterpretable coronary arteries on a per-vessel (1.5% and 6.7%, respectively) and per-segment analysis (1% and 4.7%, respectively), these percentages resulted significantly higher for S...
Source: Journal of Thoracic Imaging - Category: Radiology Tags: Web Exclusive Content: Original Articles Source Type: research