Improved Image Quality of Coronary CT Angiography Using Automatic Motion Correction

Motion artifacts that degrade image quality of coronary CT angiography (CCTA) in patients with high heart rates may be reduced with specific automatic motion correction algorithms (AMC). We compared coronary-artery delineation between AMC and conventional CCTA reconstruction (CR). CCTA images (clinical single-source-64-slice-CT system) of 17 consecutive patients with heart rates exceeding 55 bpm were reconstructed with both CR and AMC during the individually best-suited phase of the cardiac cycle. Two independent readers who were blinded to the reconstruction algorithm scored image quality of each coronary artery segment (AHA 15-segment-model; 1: non-diagnostic - 4: excellent). In case of disagreement a third blinded reader assigned a final score. Two-tailed statistical tests (Wilcoxon-matched-pairs, Pearson-correlation) were significant at P < 0.05. Mean heart rate during CCTA was 61 ± 8 bpm. CCTA quality improved significantly in the RCA (good-or-excellent in 11/17 AMC vs. 5/17 CR, P = 0.018) and LAD (15/17 vs. 7/17, P = 0.031). Non-diagnostic CCTA in the RCA, LM, LAD, and LCX reduced from 16/68 (CR, 24%) to 7/68 (AMC, 10%). Significant motion correction was observed at low (? 60 bpm; P = 0.008), intermediate (61-70 bpm; P < 0.001), and high heart rates (> 70 bpm; P = 0.021). Inter-reader agreement was good. (inter-class-correlation, 0.762). CCTA image quality improves significantly with AMC in patients with high heart rates and reduces the proportion of non-diagnostic examinations