Shumpei Mori1, Tomofumi Takaya2, Mitsuo Kinugasa2, Tatsuro Ito2, Sachiko Takamine2, Sei Fujiwara2, Tatsuya Nishii3, Atsushi K Kono3, Takeshi Inoue4, Seimi Satomi-Kobayashi2, Yoshiyuki Rikitake5, Yutaka Okita4, Ken-ichi Hirata2. 1. Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan. Electronic address: shumpei_8@hotmail.com. 2. Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan. 3. Department of Radiology, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan. 4. Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, Department of Surgery, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan. 5. Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan; Division of Signal Transduction, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Three-dimensional (3-D) visualization and quantification of vascular calcification (VC) are important to accelerate the multidisciplinary investigation of VC. Agatston scoring is the standard approach for evaluating coronary artery calcification. However, regarding aortic calcification (AC), quantification methods appear to vary among studies. The aim of this study was to introduce a simple technique of simultaneous quantification and 3-D visualization of AC and provide validation data. METHODS: The main study comprised of 126 patients who underwent the thoracoabdominal plain computed tomography scan as preoperative general evaluation. AC was quantified using a volume-rendering (VR) method (VR AC volume) by extracting the volume with a density ≥130 HU within the total aorta. The concordance and reproducibility of the VR AC volume were validated in comparison with the conventional slice-by-slice voxel-based AC quantification (volumetric AC score) using the Agatston scoring software. RESULTS: Excellent concordance between the VR AC volume and volumetric AC score was confirmed (Spearman correlation coefficient = 0.9997, mean difference = -0.05 ± 0.23 mL, p <0.0001). Excellent intraobserver and interobserver reliabilities were demonstrated using the Bland-Altman analysis as the mean intraobserver difference was 0.00 mL (p = 0.9863) and the mean interobserver difference was -0.01 mL (p = 0.6612). CONCLUSION: The VR method was validated to be feasible. This simple approach could overcome the limitation of the current method based on slice-by-slice pixel or voxel summation, which lacks 3-D visual information. Accordingly, this approach would be promising for accelerating the investigation of VC.
OBJECTIVE: Three-dimensional (3-D) visualization and quantification of vascular calcification (VC) are important to accelerate the multidisciplinary investigation of VC. Agatston scoring is the standard approach for evaluating coronary artery calcification. However, regarding aortic calcification (AC), quantification methods appear to vary among studies. The aim of this study was to introduce a simple technique of simultaneous quantification and 3-D visualization of AC and provide validation data. METHODS: The main study comprised of 126 patients who underwent the thoracoabdominal plain computed tomography scan as preoperative general evaluation. AC was quantified using a volume-rendering (VR) method (VR AC volume) by extracting the volume with a density ≥130 HU within the total aorta. The concordance and reproducibility of the VR AC volume were validated in comparison with the conventional slice-by-slice voxel-based AC quantification (volumetric AC score) using the Agatston scoring software. RESULTS: Excellent concordance between the VR AC volume and volumetric AC score was confirmed (Spearman correlation coefficient = 0.9997, mean difference = -0.05 ± 0.23 mL, p <0.0001). Excellent intraobserver and interobserver reliabilities were demonstrated using the Bland-Altman analysis as the mean intraobserver difference was 0.00 mL (p = 0.9863) and the mean interobserver difference was -0.01 mL (p = 0.6612). CONCLUSION: The VR method was validated to be feasible. This simple approach could overcome the limitation of the current method based on slice-by-slice pixel or voxel summation, which lacks 3-D visual information. Accordingly, this approach would be promising for accelerating the investigation of VC.
Authors: Zhennong Chen; Francisco Contijoch; Gabrielle M Colvert; Ashish Manohar; Andrew M Kahn; Hari K Narayan; Elliot McVeigh Journal: Front Cardiovasc Med Date: 2022-07-28