Revolutionary photon-counting CT: A noninvasive approach to detect heart disease in high-risk patients

Ultra-high-resolution coronary CT angiography (UHR-CCTA) is a promising tool for the noninvasive assessment of patients at high risk for coronary artery disease. Because it uses recently introduced photon-counting CT scanners, it has not been extensively studied.

Dr. Hagar and colleagues compared the diagnostic accuracy of UHR-CCTA with that of the reference standard of invasive coronary angiography (ICA) in 68 patients. The patients had severe aortic valve stenosis, a common, serious valve disease that reduces or blocks blood flow from the heart to the aorta.

UHR-CCTA was highly sensitive and specific for coronary artery disease detection. It delivered a median overall image quality score of 1.5 on the 5-point Likert scale, where 1 is excellent and 5 is non-diagnostic. Almost 80% of segments are rated as good or excellent.

Reference: Muhammad T. Hagar et al, Accuracy of Ultrahigh-Resolution Photon-counting CT for Detecting Coronary Artery Disease in a High-Risk Population, Radiology