Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2005 Jan;69(1):72-7.
doi: 10.1253/circj.69.72.

Detection of coronary plaque by computed tomography with a novel plaque analysis system, 'Plaque Map', and comparison with intravascular ultrasound and angioscopy

Sei Komatsu  1 , Atsushi Hirayama, Yosuke Omori, Yasunori Ueda, Isamu Mizote, Yasuo Fujisawa, Masayoshi Kiyomoto, Toshiaki Higashide, Kazuhisa Kodama
Affiliations
Free article

Detection of coronary plaque by computed tomography with a novel plaque analysis system, 'Plaque Map', and comparison with intravascular ultrasound and angioscopy

Sei Komatsu et al. Circ J. 2005 Jan.
Free article

Abstract

Background: Previous reports suggest that plaque may be characterized by the computed tomography (CT) number, but there is not a comprehensive method for evaluating the gray-scale CT image of the coronary artery obtained by multi-detector row CT (MDCT).

Methods and results: Forty-five patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) underwent MDCT either 3-4 weeks after the onset of acute myocardial infarction (n=24) or within 1 week after percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with unstable angina (UA; n=21). The cross-sections obtained at intervals of 5 mm were converted to numerical data and a 'plaque map' was drawn using the color-based isometric line method and bird's eye view. 'Plaque map' was compared with the findings of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and angioscopy. Of 662 slices of 78 vessels, soft, intermediate or calcified plaque was detected in 144, 134, and 84 slices, respectively. Compared with IVUS, the sensitivities were 92%, 87%, and 89%, respectively, and compared with angioscopy, sensitivity was 80% and specificity was 87%.

Conclusions: MDCT with the 'Plaque Map' system can noninvasively characterize plaque in patients with ACS.

PubMed Disclaimer