Iopromide 370

The patients were scanned with a first-generation dual-source CT (Somatom Definition Flash, Siemens Healthcare, Forchheim, Germany), or a second-generation dual-source CT (Somatom Definition Flash); or 640-slice CT (Toshiba Aquilion ONE, Toshiba, Otawara, Japan), with corresponding 20 patients (40%) for 64-slice CT, 15 patients (30%) for 128-slice CT, and 15 patients (30%) for 640-slice CT, respectively. The imaging protocol has been previously described in detail.^{21 (link)} Intravenous contrast medium (Iopromide 370, Bayer Schering Pharma, Guangzhou, China) was administered during each scan with details described in our previous study.^{21 (link)} Images were reconstructed with a slice thickness of 0.6 to 0.75 mm and a reconstruction interval of 0.5 to 0.6 mm for the first- and second-generation dual-source CT, slice thickness of 0.5 mm and reconstruction interval of 0.25 mm for 640-slice CT, respectively.
Although data were acquired with different CT scanners, our previous study did not show any significant difference in the diagnostic value between different multislice CT vendors.^{21 (link)} Therefore, this study analysis is considered comparable between the different vendors.

As shown in the literature [9 (link), 10 (link)], standard transradial techniques were used for angiography. Lidocaine was used as the local anesthesia. The right radial artery was cannulated using a 21-gauge needle and a transradial kit with a 30-centimeter- (cm) long, 6-French (F) introducer (Terumo, Tokyo, Japan). With the introducer in place, 200 μg nitroglycerin and 2000 IU heparin were introduced into the side port of the sheath. If the operation lasted for more than 1 hour, another dose of heparin (1000 IU/h) was administered intravenously. A 5 F multipurpose catheter (Terumo, Tokyo, Japan) 130 cm long was alternatively used for selective angiography using standard techniques. Briefly, the catheter tip was placed on the orifice of the target artery (the left or the right coronary artery) and introduced with a 0.035″ hydrophilic guide wire (Terumo, Tokyo, Japan). We used iopromide 370 (Bayer, Bayer Schering Pharma, Germany) to take magnified angiography images at different angles. If the angiography failed when using the 5 F multipurpose catheter, the 6 F Judkins catheters (J6F, Cordis Corporation, USA) or 6 F pig catheters (Cordis Corporation, USA) would be used instead. If the radial artery was too small or too circuitous for catheters to manipulate, the femoral artery would be used instead.

Chest CT images were acquired using a 64 detector-row CT scanner (LightSpeed VCT, GE, USA) with following parameters (Table 1): collimation = 128 × 0.625 mm, gantry rotation time = 350 ms, pitch = 1.2, field of view = 360 mm × 300 ~ 360 mm, matrix size = 512 × 512. The tube voltage was 120 kVp in Cohorts 1 and 3, and 100 kVp in Cohort 2. Images were reconstructed as 1.25-mm thick slices (+ 1-mm interslice gap) and 5-mm thick slices (+ 5-mm interslice gap), respectively. A soft-tissue convolution kernel of B31f was used. Participants in Cohort 3 first underwent non-ECG-gated chest NCCT image acquisition and then, to acquire the chest CECT image, they were intravenously administered a bolus of contrast medium (Iopromide 370, Bayer Schering Pharma AG; dosage = 1 ml/kg body weight, rate = 3 ml/s) followed by a flush of normal saline (30 ml). Then the chest CECT image was acquired at the arterial phase and venous phase, respectively. Coverage in all chest CT datasets extended from the thoracic inlet to the upper abdomen, at a minimum.