State of the art of CT myocardial perfusion

Abstract

Coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) is a powerful tool to rule out coronary artery disease (CAD). In the last decade, myocardial perfusion CT (CTP) technique has been developed for the evaluation of myocardial ischemia, thereby increasing positive predictive value for diagnosis of obstructive CAD. A diagnostic strategy combining CCTA and perfusion acquisitions provides both anatomical coronary evaluation and functional evaluation of the stenosis, increasing the specificity and the positive predictive value of cardiac CT. This could improve risk stratification and guide revascularization procedures, reducing unnecessary diagnostic procedures in invasive coronary angiography. Two different acquisitions protocol have been developed for CTP. Static CTP allows a qualitative or semiquantitative evaluation of myocardial perfusion using a single scan during the first pass of iodinated contrast material in the myocardium. Dynamic CTP is capable of a quantitative evaluation of perfusion through multiple acquisitions, providing direct measure of the myocardial blood flow. For both, CTP acquisition hyperemia is reached using stressor agents such as adenosine or regadenoson. CTP in addition to CCTA acquisition shows good diagnostic accuracy compared to invasive fractional flow reserve (FFR). Furthermore, the evaluation of late iodine enhancement (LIE) could be performed allowing the detection of myocardial infarction.