Coronary stent occlusion: reverse attenuation gradient sign observed at computed tomography angiography improves diagnostic performance.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the incidence and diagnostic performance of reverse attenuation gradient (RAG) sign in patients with coronary stent occlusion.
METHODS: We retrospectively included patients with suspected restenosis who underwent both coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) and invasive coronary angiography (ICA) within 2 weeks. Stent occlusion at CCTA was defined as (1) complete contrast filling defect of large calibre stents (at least 3 mm), or (2) presence of RAG sign in patients with small calibre stents (less than 3 mm) or (3) presence of RAG sign in patients with non-diagnostic image quality of stents. The diagnostic performance of RAG sign was further assessed by comparison to ICA results.
RESULTS: A total of 162 patients with 231 implanted stents were included. ICA confirmed stent occlusion in 59 patients (99 stents). RAG sign was present in 59.3% (35/59) of all stent occlusions. As shown by patient-based analysis, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of our diagnostic criteria for detection of stent occlusion were 79.7% (47/59), 100% (103/103), 100% (47/47) and 89.6% (103/115) respectively. Superior diagnostic performance was confirmed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis with an area under the curve of 0.898.
CONCLUSIONS: RAG sign observed at CCTA in patients with coronary stenting represents reverse collateral flow distal to stents and is highly specific to indicate stent occlusion. KEY POINTS: • RAG sign in patients with previous stents represents retrograde collateral flow. • RAG sign in patients with previous stents indicates stent occlusion. • RAG sign improves detection of stent occlusion in small calibre stents.