Multislice spiral CT virtual endoscopy in coronary artery examination

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility of reconstructing multislice spiral computed tomography virtual endoscopy (VE) and determine the clinical value of VE in detecting coronary artery lesions. Methods: Totally 108 in-patients underwent MSCT angiography. VEs were simulated in 756 coronary arteries (left main, left anterior descending, left circumflex and right coronary arteries and their branches). Results of selective coronary angiography were taken as gold standard for comparison. Results: VEs of 568 (568/756, 75%) coronary arteries were successfully reconstructed and 76 (76/88, 86%) coronary stenoses were detected by VE. All coronary stents (by PTCA, n=24), stent grafts (by CABG, n=4) and coronary artery fistulas (n=8) were detected by VE. Conclusion: MSCT virtual endoscopy, as a non-invasive, convenient and economical method, can accurately detect coronary stenoses and may be used for screening patients with known or suspected coronary artery diseases.