Abstract
Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in developed countries. Every year, one million people in the US experience a heart attack or sudden cardiac death. A large percentage of these patients have no prior symptoms of any kind but suffer from silent heart disease, which may cause a heart attack at any time. Currently, there is no reliable screening method to identify the “vulnerable patient” who may have silent heart disease and therefore is at the risk of suffering a cardiovascular event such as a heart attack.
Non-contrast cardiac CT is used worldwide to assess coronary artery calcium, a subclinical marker of coronary atherosclerosis. It has been recommended for screening asymptomatic individuals with intermediate-high Framingham risk, due to its high prognostic value, low radiation burden, and simplicity. In this chapter, we review technical aspects of imaging coronary calcium and techniques for “coronary calcium scoring” and review its value in prognostic studies.
The non-contrast cardiac CT scan provides three-dimensional images of the heart and contains important additional information regarding the patient’s cardiovascular risk, beyond the coronary calcium score. These include pericardial and thoracic fat, aortic calcification, aortic and left ventricular size, spotty calcification pattern, and the number of calcified lesions. These markers are, however, not considered in routine clinical analysis. In this chapter, we summarize the methods to quantify these markers of cardiovascular risk and the growing evidence regarding their clinical and prognostic significance. Automated algorithms to identify and quantify these markers may help in identifying the vulnerable patient with silent heart disease.
References
American Heart Association. Heart and Stroke Statistical Update. 2002.
Yusuf S, Reddy S, Ounpuu S, Anand S. Global burden of cardiovascular diseases: Part I: General considerations, the epidemiologic transition, risk factors, and impact of urbanization. Circulation 2001;104:2746–2753.
Myerburg RJ, Interian A, Jr., Mitrani RM, Kessler KM, Castellanos A. Frequency of sudden cardiac death and profiles of risk. Am J Cardiol 1997;80:10F–19F.
Virmani R, Burke AP, Farb A. Sudden cardiac death. Cardiovasc Pathol 2001;10:211–218.
Naghavi M, Libby P, Falk E, et al. From vulnerable plaque to vulnerable patient: A call for new definitions and risk assessment strategies: Part I. Circulation 2003;108:1664–1672.
Naghavi M, Libby P, Falk E, et al. From vulnerable plaque to vulnerable patient: A call for new definitions and risk assessment strategies: Part II. Circulation 2003;108:1772–1778.
Grundy SM. Primary prevention of coronary heart disease: Integrating risk assessment with intervention. Circulation 1999;100:988–998.
Wilson PW, D’Agostino RB, Levy D, Belanger AM, Silbershatz H, Kannel WB. Prediction of coronary heart disease using risk factor categories. Circulation 1998;97:1837–1847.
Executive Summary of The Third Report of The National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, And Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol In Adults (Adult Treatment Panel III). Jama 2001;285:2486–2497.
Ridker PM, Cushman M, Stampfer MJ, Tracy RP, Hennekens CH. Inflammation, aspirin, and the risk of cardiovascular disease in apparently healthy men. N Engl J Med 1997;336:973–979.
Ridker PM, Hennekens CH, Buring JE, Rifai N. C-reactive protein and other markers of inflammation in the prediction of cardiovascular disease in women. N Engl J Med 2000;342:836–843.
Ridker PM, Rifai N, Rose L, Buring JE, Cook NR. Comparison of C-reactive protein and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in the prediction of first cardiovascular events. N Engl J Med 2002;347:1557–1565.
Pasceri V, Willerson JT, Yeh ET. Direct proinflammatory effect of C-reactive protein on human endothelial cells. Circulation 2000;102:2165–2168.
Arad Y, Goodman KJ, Roth M, Newstein D, Guerci AD. Coronary calcification, coronary disease risk factors, C-reactive protein, and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease events: The St. Francis Heart Study. J Am Coll Cardiol 2005;46:158–165.
Shaw L, Raggi P, Schisterman E, Berman D, Callister T. Prognostic value of cardiac risk factors and coronary artery calcium screening for all-cause mortality. Radiology 2003;228:826–833.
Berman DS, Hachamovitch R, Shaw LJ, et al. Roles of nuclear cardiology, cardiac computed tomography, and cardiac magnetic resonance: Noninvasive risk stratification and a conceptual framework for the selection of noninvasive imaging tests in patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease. J Nucl Med 2006;47:1107–1118.
Arad Y, Spadaro LA, Goodman K, Newstein D, Guerci AD. Prediction of coronary events with electron beam Computed Tomography. J Am Coll Cardiol 2000;36:1253–1260.
Raggi P, Callister TQ, Cooil B, et al. Identification of patients at increased risk of first unheralded acute myocardial infarction by electron-beam Computed Tomography. Circulation 2000;101:850–855.
Park R, Detrano R, Xiang M, et al. Combined use of Computed Tomography coronary calcium scores and C-reactive protein levels in predicting cardiovascular events in nondiabetic individuals. Circulation 2002;106:2073–2077.
Shemesh J, Morag-Koren N, Goldbourt U, et al. Coronary calcium by spiral computed tomography predicts cardiovascular events in high-risk hypertensive patients. J Hypertens 2004;22:605–610.
Wong ND, Hsu JC, Detrano RC, Diamond G, Eisenberg H, Gardin JM. Coronary artery calcium evaluation by electron beam Computed Tomography and its relation to new cardiovascular events. Am J Cardiol 2000;86:495–498.
Kondos GT, Hoff JA, Sevrukov A, et al. Electron-beam tomography coronary artery calcium and cardiac events: A 37-month follow-up of 5635 initially asymptomatic low- to intermediate-risk adults. Circulation 2003;107:2571–2576.
Greenland P, LaBree L, Azen SP, Doherty TM, Detrano RC. Coronary artery calcium score combined with Framingham score for risk prediction in asymptomatic individuals. J Am Med Assoc 2004;291:210–215.
LaMonte MJ, FitzGerald SJ, Church TS, et al. Coronary artery calcium score and coronary heart disease events in a large cohort of asymptomatic men and women. Am J Epidemiol 2005;162:421–429.
Taylor AJ, Bindeman J, Feuerstein I, Cao F, Brazaitis M, O’Malley PG. Coronary calcium independently predicts incident premature coronary heart disease over measured cardiovascular risk factors: mean three-year outcomes in the Prospective Army Coronary Calcium (PACC) project. J Am Coll Cardiol 2005;46:807–814.
Vliegenthart R, Oudkerk M, Hofman A, et al. Coronary calcification improves cardiovascular risk prediction in the elderly. Circulation 2005;112:572–577.
Becker A, Knez A, Becker C, et al. Prediction of serious cardiovascular events by determining coronary artery calcification measured by multi-slice computed tomography. Dtsch Med Wochenschr 2005;130:2433–2438.
Detrano R, Guerci AD, Carr JJ, et al. Coronary calcium as a predictor of coronary events in four racial or ethnic groups. N Engl J Med 2008;358:1336–1345.
Budoff MJ, Shaw LJ, Liu ST, et al. Long-term prognosis associated with coronary calcification: Observations from a registry of 25,253 patients. J Am Coll Cardiol 2007;49:1860–1870.
Budoff MJ, Gul KM. Expert review on coronary calcium. Vasc Health Risk Manag 2008;4:315–324.
Budoff MJ, Achenbach S, Blumenthal RS, et al. Assessment of coronary artery disease by cardiac computed tomography: A scientific statement from the American Heart Association Committee on Cardiovascular Imaging and Intervention, Council on Cardiovascular Radiology and Intervention, and Committee on Cardiac Imaging, Council on Clinical Cardiology. Circulation 2006;114:1761–1791.
O’Rourke RA, Brundage BH, Froelicher VF, et al. American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association expert consensus document on electron-beam Computed Tomography for the diagnosis and prognosis of coronary artery disease. J Am Coll Cardiol 2000;36:326–340.
Mao S, Lu B, Oudiz RJ, Bakhsheshi H, Liu SC, Budoff MJ. Coronary artery motion in electron beam tomography. J Comput Assist Tomogr 2000;24:253–258.
Mao S, Bakhsheshi H, Lu B, Liu SC, Oudiz RJ, Budoff MJ. Effect of electrocardiogram triggering on reproducibility of coronary artery calcium scoring. Radiology 2001;220:707–711.
Knez A, Becker C, Becker A, et al. Determination of coronary calcium with multi-slice spiral Computed Tomography: A comparative study with electron-beam CT. Int J Cardiovasc Imaging 2002;18:295–303.
Daniell AL, Wong ND, Friedman JD, et al. Concordance of coronary artery calcium estimates between MDCT and electron beam tomography. AJR Am J Roentgenol 2005;185:1542–1545.
Stanford W, Thompson BH, Burns TL, Heery SD, Burr MC. Coronary artery calcium quantification at multi-detector row helical CT versus electron-beam CT. Radiology 2004;230:397–402.
Carr JJ, Crouse JR, 3rd, Goff DC, Jr., D’Agostino RB, Jr., Peterson NP, Burke GL. Evaluation of subsecond gated helical CT for quantification of coronary artery calcium and comparison with electron beam CT. AJR Am J Roentgenol 2000;174:915–921.
Ohnesorge B, Flohr T, Fischbach R, et al. Reproducibility of coronary calcium quantification in repeat examinations with retrospectively ECG-gated multisection spiral CT. Eur Radiol 2002;12:1532–1540.
Becker CR, Kleffel T, Crispin A, et al. Coronary artery calcium measurement: Agreement of multirow detector and electron beam CT. AJR Am J Roentgenol 2001;176:1295–1298.
Hunold P, Vogt F, Schmermund A, et al. Radiation exposure during cardiac CT: Effective doses at multi-detector row CT and electron-beam CT. Radiology 2003;226:145–152.
Morin RL, Gerber TC, McCollough CH. Radiation dose in computed tomography of the heart. Circulation 2003;107:917–922.
Flohr T, Schoepf U, Kuettner A, et al. Advances in cardiac imaging with 16-section CT systems. Acad Radiol 2003;10:386–401.
Agatston AS, Janowitz WR, Hildner FJ, Zusmer NR, Viamonte M, Jr., Detrano R. Quantification of coronary artery calcium using ultrafast Computed Tomography. J Am Coll Cardiol 1990;15:827–832.
Callister T, Cooil B, Raya S, Lippolis N, Russo D, Raggi P. Coronary artery disease: Improved reproducibility of calcium scoring with an electron-beam CT volumetric method. Radiology 1998;208:807–814.
McCollough CH, Ulzheimer S, Halliburton SS, Shanneik K, White RD, Kalender WA. Coronary artery calcium: A multi-institutional, multimanufacturer international standard for quantification at cardiac CT. Radiology 2007;243:527–538.
Rumberger JA, Kaufman L. A Rosetta Stone for Coronary Calcium Risk Stratification: Agatston, Volume, and Mass Scores in 11,490 Individuals. Am J Roentgentol 2003;181:743–748.
Hong C, Bae KT, Pilgram TK. Coronary artery calcium: accuracy and reproducibility of measurements with multi-detector row CT–assessment of effects of different thresholds and quantification methods. Radiology 2003;227:795–801.
Van Hoe LR, De Meerleer KG, Leyman PP, Vanhoenacker PK. Coronary artery calcium scoring using ECG-gated multidetector CT: Effect of individually optimized image-reconstruction windows on image quality and measurement reproducibility. AJR Am J Roentgenol 2003;181:1093–1100.
Takahashi N, Bae KT. Quantification of coronary artery calcium with multi-detector row CT: Assessing interscan variability with different tube currents pilot study. Radiology 2003;228:101–106.
Detrano RC, Anderson M, Nelson J, et al. Coronary calcium measurements: Effect of CT scanner type and calcium measure on rescan reproducibility–MESA study. Radiology 2005;236:477–484.
Sevrukov AB, Bland JM, Kondos GT. Serial electron beam CT measurements of coronary artery calcium: Has your patient’s calcium score actually changed? AJR Am J Roentgenol 2005;185:1546–1553.
Chung H, McClelland RL, Katz R, Carr JJ, Budoff MJ. Repeatability limits for measurement of coronary artery calcified plaque with cardiac CT in The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. AJR Am J Roentgenol 2008;190:W87–W92.
Folsom AR, Kronmal RA, Detrano RC, et al. Coronary artery calcification compared with carotid intima-media thickness in the prediction of cardiovascular disease incidence: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Arch Intern Med 2008;168:1333–1339.
Becker A, Leber A, Becker C, Knez A. Predictive value of coronary calcifications for future cardiac events in asymptomatic individuals. Am Heart J 2008;155:154–160.
Bild DE, Bluemke DA, Burke GL, et al. Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis: Objectives and design. Am J Epidemiol 2002;156:871–881.
Schmermund A, Mohlenkamp S, Stang A, et al. Assessment of clinically silent atherosclerotic disease and established and novel risk factors for predicting myocardial infarction and cardiac death in healthy middle-aged subjects: Rationale and design of the Heinz Nixdorf RECALL study. Risk factors, evaluation of coronary calcium and lifestyle. Am Heart J 2002;144:212–218.
Dey D, Callister TQ, Slomka PJ, Aboul-Enein F, Nishina H, Kang X, Gransar H, Wong ND, Miranda-Peats R, Hayes S, Friedman JD, Berman DS. Computer-aided detection and evaluation of lipid-rich plaque in non-contrast cardiac Computed Tomography. Am J Roentgenol 2006;186:S407–S413.
Teichholz LE, Petrillo S, Larson AJ, Klig V. Quantitative assessment of atherosclerosis by electron beam tomography. Am J Cardiol 2002;90:1416–1419.
Rosito GA, Massaro JM, Hoffmann U, et al. Pericardial fat, visceral abdominal fat, cardiovascular disease risk factors, and vascular calcification in a community-based sample: The Framingham Heart Study. Circulation 2008;117:605–613.
Gorter PM, van Lindert ASR, de Vos AM, et al. Quantification of epicardial and peri-coronary fat using cardiac Computed Tomography; reproducibility and relation with obesity and metabolic syndrome in patients suspected of coronary artery disease. Atherosclerosis 2008;197:896–903.
Ding J, Kritchevsky SB, Harris TB, et al. The association of pericardial fat with calcified coronary plaque. Obesity 2008;16:1914–1919.
Taguchi R, Takasu J, Itani Y, et al. Pericardial fat accumulation in men as a risk factor for coronary artery disease. Atherosclerosis 2001;157:203–209.
Wheeler GL, Shi R, Beck SR, et al. Pericardial and visceral adipose tissues measured volumetrically with Computed Tomography are highly associated in type 2 diabetic families. Invest Radiol 2005;40:97–101.
Dey D, Suzuki Y, Suzuki S, et al. Automated quantitation of pericardiac fat from noncontrast CT. Invest Radiol 2008;43:145–153.
Mahabadi AA, Massaro JM, Rosito GA, et al. Association of pericardial fat, intrathoracic fat, and visceral abdominal fat with cardiovascular disease burden: The Framingham Heart Study. Eur Heart J 2009;30(7):850–856.
Greif M, Becker A, von Ziegler F, Lebherz C, Lehrke M, Brödl U, Tittus J, Parhofer K, Becker C, Reiser M, Knez A, Leber AW. Pericardial adipose tissue determined by dual source CT is a risk factor for coronary atherosclerosis. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 2009;29(5):781–786.
Bandekar A, Naghavi M, Kakadiaris IA. Automated pericardial fat quantification in CT data. In: Proc. of the 28th Annual Intl. Conf. of the IEEE Engineering in Medical and Biology Society, (EMBS’06), New York, Aug 30 – Sep 3, 2006.
Dey D, Wong ND, Tamarappoo BK, Nakazato R, Shah A, Gransar H, Cheng VY, Ramesh A, Kakadiaris I, Germano G, Slomka PJ, Berman DS. Computer-aided non-contrast CT-based quantification of pericardial and thoracic fat and their associations with coronary calcium and metabolic syndrome. Atherosclerosis 2009: in press: doi:10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2009.08.032.
Takasu J, Takanashi K, Naito S, et al. Evaluation of morphological changes of the atherosclerotic aorta by enhanced Computed Tomography. Atherosclerosis 1992;97:107–121.
Itani Y, Watanabe S, Masuda Y. Aortic calcification detected in a mass chest screening program using a mobile helical computed tomography unit. Relationship to risk factors and coronary artery disease. Circ J 2004;68:538–541.
Atak R, Ileri M, Yetkin O, et al. The role of valvular and thoracic aortic calcifications in distinction between ischemic and nonischemic cardiomyopathy. Angiology 2004;55:661–667.
Adler Y, Fisman EZ, Shemesh J, et al. Spiral computed tomography evidence of close correlation between coronary and thoracic aorta calcifications. Atherosclerosis 2004;176:133–138.
Tanne D, Tenenbaum A, Shemesh J, et al. Calcification of the thoracic aorta by spiral Computed Tomography among hypertensive patients: Associations and risk of ischemic cerebrovascular events. Int J Cardiol 2007;120:32–37.
Iribarren C, Sidney S, Sternfeld B, Browner WS. Calcification of the aortic arch: Risk factors and association with coronary heart disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease. J Am Med Assoc 2000;283:2810–2815.
Wolak A, Gransar H, Thomson LEJ, et al. Aortic size assessment by noncontrast cardiac Computed Tomography: Normal limits by age, gender, and body surface area. J Am Coll Cardiol Img 2008;1:200–209.
Mao SS, Ahmadi N, Shah B, et al. Normal thoracic aorta diameter on cardiac Computed Tomography in healthy asymptomatic adults impact of age and gender. Acad Radiol 2008;15:827–834.
Kurkure U, Avila-Montes OC, Kakadiaris IA. Automated localization and segmentation of thoracic aorta in non-contrast CT images. In: Proc. 5th IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging: From Nano to Macro. Paris, France, 2008.
Chikos PM, Figley MM, Fisher L. Correlation between chest film and angiographic assessment of left ventricular size. AJR Am J Roentgenol 1977;128:367–373.
Frishman WH, Nadelmann J, Ooi WL, et al. Cardiomegaly on chest X-ray: Prognostic implications from a ten-year cohort study of elderly subjects: a report from the Bronx Longitudinal Aging Study. Am Heart J 1992;124:1026–1030.
Sandvik L, Erikssen J, Thaulow E, Erikssen G, Mundal R, Aakhus T. Heart volume and cardiovascular mortality. A 16 year follow-up study of 1984 healthy middle-aged men. Eur Heart J 1993;14:592–596.
Nasir K, Katz R, Mao S, Takasu J, Bomma C, Lima J, Bluemke D, Kronmal R, Carr J, Budoff M. Comparison of left ventricular size by Computed Tomography with Magnetic Resonance Imaging measures of left ventricle mass and volumes: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. J Cardiovasc Comput Tomogr 2008;2:141–148.
Ehara S, Kobayashi Y, Yoshiyama M, et al. Spotty calcification typifies the culprit plaque in patients with acute myocardial infarction: An intravascular ultrasound study. Circulation 2004;110:3424–3429.
van der Hoeven BL, Liem SS, Oemrawsingh PV, et al. Role of calcified spots detected by intravascular ultrasound in patients with ST-segment elevation acute myocardial infarction. Am J Cardiol 2006;98:309–313.
Motoyama S, Kondo T, Sarai M, et al. Multislice Computed Tomographic characteristics of coronary lesions in acute coronary syndromes. J Am Coll Cardiol 2007;50:319–326.
Williams M, Shaw LJ, Raggi P, et al. Prognostic value of number and site of calcified coronary lesions compared with the total score. J Am Coll Cardiol Cardiovasc Imaging 2008;1:61–69.
Kurkure U, Chittajallu, D, Brunner, G, Yalamanchili, R, Kakadiaris IA. Detection of coronary calcifications using supervised hierarchical classification. In: Proc. 2nd MICCAI Workshop on Computer Vision for Intravascular and Intracardiac Imaging. New York, NY, 2008.
Brunner G, Chittajallu DR, Kurkure U, Kakadiaris IA. A heart-centered coordinate system for the detection of coronary artery zones in non-contrast Computed Tomography data. In: Proc. 2nd MICCAI Workshop on Computer Vision for Intravascular and Intracardiac Imaging. New York, NY, 2008.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Dey, D., Kakadiaris, I.A., Budoff, M.J., Naghavi, M., Berman, D.S. (2011). Comprehensive Non-contrast CT Imaging of the Vulnerable Patient. In: Naghavi, M. (eds) Asymptomatic Atherosclerosis. Contemporary Cardiology. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60327-179-0_28
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60327-179-0_28
Published:
Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ
Print ISBN: 978-1-60327-178-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-60327-179-0
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)