Rationale and objectives: To compare the image quality of electron beam tomography (EBT) and multislice spiral CT (MSCT) for coronary artery visualization.
Materials and methods: Two groups of 30 patients without coronary stenoses were studied by MSCT (4 x 1 mm collimation) or EBT (3 mm slice thickness). Contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), overall length of the visualized arteries and vessel length free of motion artifacts were measured.
Results: Length of visualized arteries was equal in MSCT and EBT. In EBT, longer segments were depicted free of motion artifacts (MSCT: 73%, EBT: 92% of visualized length, P< 0.001) and CNR was significantly higher than in MSCT (15.4 vs. 9.0; P< 0.001). In both modalities, vessel diameters correlated closely to quantitative coronary angiography.
Conclusions: EBT and MSCT permit reliable coronary artery visualization and measurement of vessel diameters. For the used scan protocol, MSCT images had a lower CNR and were more frequently affected by motion.