Value of dual-source CT prospective ECG gate coronary angiography with flex padding technology in patients with sinus tachycardia

Objective: To investigate the optimal image phase of coronary CT angiography (CTA) imaging analysis for patients with sinus tachycardia. Methods: Fifty-eight patients of sinus tachycardia who were highly suspected to have a potential coronary artery disease (CAD) were scheduled to receive coronary CTA. Flex Pedding technique together with multi-phase imaging reconstruction technology was used in image data collection and analysis. Results: The best construction phase of left anterior descending artery (LAD), left circumflex artery (LCX) and right coronary artery (RCA) from these 58 patients varied. 81.3% of the patients had their best construction phase ranged from 200-250 ms in LAD, with 51.8% of them ranged between 210-240 ms. 65.4% patients had best construction phase of LCX located between 240-260 ms. 70.6% patients had best construction phase of RCA ranged from 280300 ms. Quality of 40% of the single phase reconstruction images scored at an average of 2.83 +/- 0.58, with 58.4% reading the passing rate. After multi-phase reconstruction, this score increased to an average of 3.61 +/- 0.64, with a 91.9% passing rate. There was a significant difference between the quality score of single-phase and multi-phase image reconstruction in RCA, LAD and LCS (all P<0.05). Conclusion: Combined usage of CT Flex Padding and multi-phase reconstruction was a suitable methodology and key to improve the success rate of coronary CTA in patient with tachycardia.