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(Circulation. 2000;102:e6.)
© 2000 American Heart Association, Inc.

Circulation Electronic Pages

Coronary Artery Fly-Through Using Electron Beam Computed Tomography

Peter M. A. van Ooijen, MSc; Matthijs Oudkerk, MD, PhD; Robert J. M. van Geuns, MD; Benno J. Rensing, MD, PhD; Pim J. de Feyter, MD, PhD

From the Department of Radiology (P.M.A.v.O., M.O.) and Thoraxcentre (R.J.M.v.g., B.J.R., P.J.d.F.), University Hospital Rotterdam/Daniel, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Correspondence to Peter M.A. van Ooijen, MSc, Dept of Radiology, University Hospital Rotterdam/Daniel, Groene Hilledijk 301, 3075 EA Rotterdam, The Netherlands. E-mail ooijen{at}radh.azr.nl

Background—Virtual reality techniques have recently been introduced into clinical medicine. This study examines the possibility of coronary artery fly-through using a dataset obtained by noninvasive coronary angiography with contrast-enhanced electron-beam computed tomography.

Methods and Results—Ten patients were examined, and 40 to 60 transaxial tomograms (thickness, 1.5 mm; in-plane pixel dimensions, 0.5x0.5 mm) were obtained after intravenous contrast injection. The datasets were processed on a graphics workstation using volume-rendering software. For fly-throughs, the contrast-enhanced lumen was made transparent and other tissue was made opaque. Then, key frames were selected in a path through the vessel, with software interpolation of frames between key frames. A typical movie contained 150 to 300 frames (10 to 15 key frames). Fly-throughs of coronary bypass grafts (n=3), left anterior descending arteries (LAD; n=6), and the intermediate branch (n=1) were reconstructed. Coronary calcifications were seen in 3 patients. The fly-through of the intermediate branch, the bypass grafts, and one of the LADs did not show any irregularities. In 2 cases, a stenosis was visible in the LAD; its presence was confirmed by conventional coronary angiography.

Conclusions—Recent developments in fast-volume rendering using special-purpose hardware in combination with noninvasive coronary angiography with electron beam computed tomography have provided the possibility of performing coronary artery fly-throughs.

Key Words: angiography • tomography, x-ray computed • computers • imaging