Coronary plaque imaging by coronary computed tomography angiography

Table 1 Respective pros and cons of multi-detector computed tomography and coronary angiogram for analysis of coronary artery disease

	Pros	Cons
MDCT	It can be performed with short examination times, and is generally available and easily performed	Study population was limited to selected patients chosen for good CTA image quality with absence of motion artifacts or severe calcification
	It is a noninvasive character, and contributes important information of plaque morphology and characterization in the arterial wall	Quantitative measurement of plaque morphology is slightly limited
	Calcium score	Radiation exposure, which is currently between 9 and 1 mSv for a retrospectively gated MDCT coronary angiogram
	Serial MDCT plaque imaging	Contrast medium is used
CAG	Excellent image quality can be observed with absence of artifacts	It is an invasive character, and contributes no plaque morphologic information
	Degree of luminal stenosis can be measured by QCA	Substantial interpretation variability of visual estimates and assessment of lesion severity for diffuse atherosclerotic lesions and intermediate-severity lesions
	Gold standard for the diagnosis of coronary narrowing and clinical decision making for coronary interventions	Catheterization costs are expensive. Contrast medium is used

MDCT: Multi-detector computed tomography; CTA: Computed tomography angiography; CAG: Coronary angiogram; QCA: Quantitative coronary angiography.