Coronary stent assessment with 64-slice multislice computed tomography: a literature review

Abstract

Coronary in-stent restenosis (ISR) and thrombosis cause recurrent cardiac ischemia, require repeat investigations, and have significant clinical and financial implications. As coronary stenting becomes widespread, the number of patients with recurrent ischemia is increasing. ISR and thrombosis occur in up to 10 and 0.8%, respectively, of patients with drug-eluting stents. A noninvasive investigation for symptomatic stented patients is required to identify stent thrombosis, ISR, and de novo lesions in native coronary arteries. The difficulties in using computed tomography to image high-density materials adjacent to moving calcified vessels have been reduced with advances in spatial and temporal resolution and reconstruction software. This review examines the advantages and disadvantages of 64-slice multislice computed tomography for coronary stent evaluation, explaining the diagnostic difficulties and outlining techniques to optimize diagnostic accuracy.