High definition ct xt

All patients with heart rates >70 bpm received oral β-blocker therapy with 50 or 100 mg of metoprolol tartrate (AstraZeneca, Zoetermeer, Netherlands) after stress testing to achieve a heart rate <70 bpm for the CAC scan. A nonenhanced CT scan (High Definition CT XT; GE Healthcare) was performed during breath-hold at end expiration to calculate the total CACS. CACS was acquired with electrocardiogram (ECG) triggering at 75% of the R-R interval and with the following scanning parameters: 40 or 48 sections of 2.5 mm thickness, gantry rotation time of 330 ms, tube voltage of 120 kV, and a tube current of 125 mA. If patients were not able to hold their breath, a free-breathing CT was performed. Postprocessing was conducted at a dedicated workstation using SmartScore software (GE Healthcare, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA). The CACS was calculated using the standard Agatston criteria.[10 (link)]

All patients with heart rates > 70 bpm received oral β-blocker therapy, with 50 or 100 mg of metoprolol tartrate (AstraZeneca, Zoetermeer, the Netherlands) after stress testing to achieve a heart rate < 70 bpm for the CAC scan. A non-enhanced CT scan (High Definition CT XT; GE Healthcare) during breath-hold at end expiration to calculate the total CAC score was acquired with ECG triggering at 75% of the R-R interval and with the following scanning parameters: 40 or 48 sections and 2.5-mm section thickness; gantry rotation time, 330 ms; tube voltage, 120 kV; and a tube current of 125 mA. If patients were not able to hold their breath, a free breathing CT was acquired. Post processing was conducted at a dedicated workstation using Smartscore software (GE Healthcare). The CAC score was calculated using the standard Agatston criteria [5 (link)].

All patients with heart rates >70 bpm received oral β-blocker therapy, with 50 or 100 mg of metoprolol tartrate (AstraZeneca, Zoetermeer, the Netherlands) after stress testing to achieve a heart rate <70 bpm for the CAC scan. A nonenhanced CT scan (high definition CT XT; GE Healthcare) taken during breath-hold at end expiration to calculate the total CAC score was acquired with ECG triggering at 75% of the R-R interval. The scanning parameters consisted of 40 or 48 sections of 2.5-mm section thickness; gantry rotation time, 330 ms; tube voltage, 120 kV; and a tube current of 125 mA. If patients were not able to hold their breath, a free breathing CT was acquired. Post-processing was conducted at a dedicated workstation using Smartscore software (GE Healthcare). The CAC score was calculated using the standard Agatston criteria.12 (link) CAC score was categorized into three subgroups: patients with total coronary CAC score of 0, a CAC score of 1 to 300, and a CAC score of more than 300.