| Purpose: Our objective is to evaluate the MDCT coronary angiography image quality using the 16-silce multi-detector row computed tomography with 0.37sec gantry rotation time, and to assess the accuracy of the 16-slice multi-detector row computed tomography when judging the stenosis of coronary arteries. According to the attenuation of atherosclerotic plaque in the MDCT images, the plaque character can be differentiated. Then another aim is to explore the possible relationship between the stenosis and plaque character.Materials and Methods: 33 patients who underwent the MDCT coronary angiography and conventional coronary angiography (CAG) were analyzed retrospectively about their image quality, stenosis degree and atherosclerosis plaque character. The image quality was evaluated based on a 4-grade classification. And the plaque character was differentiated according to the following criteria: CT value <60 HU (Hounsfeild Units) was soft plaque; CT value 60-129 HU was intermediate plaque; CT value≥130 HU was calcified plaque; a plaque with two or more components above was defined as mixed plaque. In accordance with the result of CAG, the diagnosis accuracy of MDCT coronary angiography was evaluated and the stenosis degree of different plaque was observed.Results and Conclusion: The MDCT coronary angiography image quality was excellent with 373/493 (75.7% ) assessable segments. Among them there are 228, 60, 85 segments were considered as grade 1, grade 2, and grade 3 respectively. And the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value of diagnosing ≥50% lumen area reduction was 92.7%, 96.9%, 79.2%, 99.1% respectively. On the other hand, the stenosis degree of calcified plaque was not as severe as the MDCT image showed, while the mixed plaque always resulted in relatively serious stenosis. Undoubtedly all these findings would help us to diagnose the pathological changes of MDCT coronary angiography more exactly.
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