Role of different imaging modalities of vascular calcification in predicting outcomes in chronic kidney disease

Table 1 Summary of different imaging modalities for vascular calcification in chronic kidney disease

Types of X-rays	Calcification area	Advantages	Limitations	Scoring methods	Outcomes prediction
Plain radiography
Lateral lumbar spine	Abdominal aorta	Simple	Subjective quantification	Kauppila et al[5]	CV events, mortality
Postero-anterior chest	Aortic arch	Simple, readily available in almost all patients		Ogawa et al[22]	CV events, mortality
Lateral chest	Aortic arch	Simple		Noordzij et al[28]	Mortality
Antero-posterior pelvis	Iliac and femoral arteries	Simple, allow differentiation between intimal- and medial-type calcification		Adragão et al[33]	CV events, mortality
Hand	Radial, ulnar and digital arteries	Simple, allow analysis of medial-type calcification		Adragão et al[33]	Outcome data is lacking
Foot	Tibial, dorsalis pedis, plantar and digital arteries			Not available	Outcome data is lacking
Mammography	Intramammary arteries	Readily available in most women, allow analysis of medial-type calcification	Subjective quantification	Not available	PAD events
Ultrasonography	Carotid, femoral and peripheral arteries	No radiation exposure, allow evaluation of arterial wall thickness and lumen size	Only superficial arteries can be evaluated, subjective quantification	Not available	CV events, mortality
Computed tomography		Intravenous contrast is not required, the most objective and reproducible quantification which allows analysis of progression	Cost, radiation exposure, does not allow differentiation between intimal- and medial-type calcification
Chest	Coronary arteries			Agatston et al[63]	CV events, mortality
	Thoracic aorta			Callister et al[100]
Abdomen	Abdominal aorta			Hong et al[101]	CV events, mortality

CV: Cardiovascular; PAD: Peripheral arterial disease.