TY - JOUR
T1 - Prevalence of anatomical variants and coronary anomalies in 543 consecutive patients studied with 64-slice CT coronary angiography
AU - Cademartiri, Filippo
AU - La Grutta, Ludovico
AU - Malagò, Roberto
AU - Alberghina, Filippo
AU - Meijboom, Willem B.
AU - Pugliese, Francesca
AU - Maffei, Erica
AU - Palumbo, Anselmo Alessandro
AU - Aldrovandi, Annachiara
AU - Fusaro, Michele
AU - Brambilla, Valerio
AU - Coruzzi, Paolo
AU - Midiri, Massimo
AU - Mollet, Nico R A
AU - Krestin, Gabriel P.
PY - 2008/4
Y1 - 2008/4
N2 - The aim of our study was to assess the prevalence of variants and anomalies of the coronary artery tree in patients who underwent 64-slice computed tomography coronary angiography (CT-CA) for suspected or known coronary artery disease. A total of 543 patients (389 male, mean age 60.5±10.9) were reviewed for coronary artery variants and anomalies including post-processing tools. The majority of segments were identified according to the American Heart Association scheme. The coronary dominance pattern results were: right, 86.6%; left, 9.2%; balanced, 4.2%. The left main coronary artery had a mean length of 112±55 mm. The intermediate branch was present in the 21.9%. A variable number of diagonals (one, 25%; two, 49.7%; more than two, 24%; none, 1.3%) and marginals (one, 35.2%; two, 46.2%; more than two, 18%; none, 0.6%) was visualized. Furthermore, CT-CA may visualize smaller branches such as the conus branch artery (98%), the sinus node artery (91.6%), and the septal branches (93%). Single or associated coronary anomalies occurred in 18.4% of the patients, with the following distribution: 43 anomalies of origin and course, 68 intrinsic anomalies (59 myocardial bridging, nine aneurisms), three fistulas. In conclusion, 64-slice CT-CA provides optimal visualization of the variable and complex anatomy of coronary arteries because of the improved isotropic spatial resolution and flexible post-processing tool.
AB - The aim of our study was to assess the prevalence of variants and anomalies of the coronary artery tree in patients who underwent 64-slice computed tomography coronary angiography (CT-CA) for suspected or known coronary artery disease. A total of 543 patients (389 male, mean age 60.5±10.9) were reviewed for coronary artery variants and anomalies including post-processing tools. The majority of segments were identified according to the American Heart Association scheme. The coronary dominance pattern results were: right, 86.6%; left, 9.2%; balanced, 4.2%. The left main coronary artery had a mean length of 112±55 mm. The intermediate branch was present in the 21.9%. A variable number of diagonals (one, 25%; two, 49.7%; more than two, 24%; none, 1.3%) and marginals (one, 35.2%; two, 46.2%; more than two, 18%; none, 0.6%) was visualized. Furthermore, CT-CA may visualize smaller branches such as the conus branch artery (98%), the sinus node artery (91.6%), and the septal branches (93%). Single or associated coronary anomalies occurred in 18.4% of the patients, with the following distribution: 43 anomalies of origin and course, 68 intrinsic anomalies (59 myocardial bridging, nine aneurisms), three fistulas. In conclusion, 64-slice CT-CA provides optimal visualization of the variable and complex anatomy of coronary arteries because of the improved isotropic spatial resolution and flexible post-processing tool.
KW - Anatomical variants
KW - Anomalies
KW - Coronary artery circulation
KW - Multislice computed tomography
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=41549141724&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=41549141724&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00330-007-0821-9
DO - 10.1007/s00330-007-0821-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 18246357
AN - SCOPUS:41549141724
VL - 18
SP - 781
EP - 791
JO - European Radiology
JF - European Radiology
SN - 0938-7994
IS - 4
ER -