Jan Robert Kröger1, Felix Gerhardt2, Daniel Dumitrescu2, Stephan Rosenkranz2, Matthias Schmidt3, David Maintz4, Alexander C Bunck4. 1. University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Department of Radiology, Germany. Electronic address: jan.kroeger@uk-koeln.de. 2. University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Department of Cardiology, Germany. 3. University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Department of Nuclear-Medicine, Germany. 4. University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Department of Radiology, Germany.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the value of spectral-detector CT (SDCT) in the diagnosis of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH), its differentiation against other etiologies of pulmonary hypertension (PH) and in the prediction of disease severity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 60 patients with suspected PH underwent SDCT. Additional diagnostic tests in accordance with the ESC guidelines including right heart catherization and VQ-SPECT were performed. After full diagnostic work-up patients were classified as: 21 precapillary PH, 5 postcapillary PH, 6 combined pre- and postcapillary PH, 19 CTEPH, 9 no PH. SDCT examinations were analyzed by two blinded readers deciding on the diagnosis of CTEPH and scoring the extent of perfusion abnormalities on iodine density images. An additional reading was performed using conventional CTPA images only. RESULTS: With access to SDCT data, both readers reached a sensitivity of 100% for the diagnosis of CTEPH with a specificity of 95.1% and 87.8%. On analysis of conventional CTPA images alone, specificity and diagnostic confidence decreased for both readers (Specificity 90.2 and 85.3%) while sensitivity dropped for the less experienced reader only (Sensitivity 78.9%). Patients with PH showed significantly more perfusion abnormalities than patients without PH (16.6 ± 8.4 vs. 9.5 ± 8.9 p < 0.001) and the extent of perfusion abnormalities correlated with the mean pulmonary artery pressure (r = 0.37 p = 0.008). CONCLUSIONS: SDCT offers confident identification of patients with CTEPH and enables a comprehensive analysis of pulmonary vasculature, pulmonary perfusion and the lung parenchyma in a single examination for patients with suspected PH.
OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the value of spectral-detector CT (SDCT) in the diagnosis of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH), its differentiation against other etiologies of pulmonary hypertension (PH) and in the prediction of disease severity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 60 patients with suspected PH underwent SDCT. Additional diagnostic tests in accordance with the ESC guidelines including right heart catherization and VQ-SPECT were performed. After full diagnostic work-up patients were classified as: 21 precapillary PH, 5 postcapillary PH, 6 combined pre- and postcapillary PH, 19 CTEPH, 9 no PH. SDCT examinations were analyzed by two blinded readers deciding on the diagnosis of CTEPH and scoring the extent of perfusion abnormalities on iodine density images. An additional reading was performed using conventional CTPA images only. RESULTS: With access to SDCT data, both readers reached a sensitivity of 100% for the diagnosis of CTEPH with a specificity of 95.1% and 87.8%. On analysis of conventional CTPA images alone, specificity and diagnostic confidence decreased for both readers (Specificity 90.2 and 85.3%) while sensitivity dropped for the less experienced reader only (Sensitivity 78.9%). Patients with PH showed significantly more perfusion abnormalities than patients without PH (16.6 ± 8.4 vs. 9.5 ± 8.9 p < 0.001) and the extent of perfusion abnormalities correlated with the mean pulmonary artery pressure (r = 0.37 p = 0.008). CONCLUSIONS:SDCT offers confident identification of patients with CTEPH and enables a comprehensive analysis of pulmonary vasculature, pulmonary perfusion and the lung parenchyma in a single examination for patients with suspected PH.
Authors: Tom Verbelen; Laurent Godinas; Geert Maleux; Johan Coolen; Guido Claessen; Catharina Belge; Bart Meyns; Marion Delcroix Journal: Ann Cardiothorac Surg Date: 2022-03
Authors: Jan Robert Kroeger; Jakob Zöllner; Felix Gerhardt; Stephan Rosenkranz; Roman Johannes Gertz; Shir Kerszenblat; Gregor Pahn; David Maintz; Alexander C Bunck Journal: Quant Imaging Med Surg Date: 2022-02
Authors: Roman Johannes Gertz; Felix Gerhardt; Jan Robert Kröger; Rahil Shahzad; Liliana Caldeira; Jonathan Kottlors; Nils Große Hokamp; David Maintz; Stephan Rosenkranz; Alexander Christian Bunck Journal: Front Cardiovasc Med Date: 2022-02-28