Assessment of the hemodynamic relevance of moderate coronary artery stenoses by myocardial stress perfusion imaging using dual-energy CT

• Applicant: Dr. Jan-Erik Scholtz
• Subject Area: Nuclear Medicine, Radiotherapy, Radiobiology
• Term: from 2016 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 316991658

Patients with suspected coronary artery disease benefit from CT-angiography (CTA) due to the fast detection or exclusion of coronary artery stenoses due to artherosclerotic plaques. CTA does not allow an exact evaluation of their impact on myocardial perfusion. If a moderate coronary artery stenosis is detected, additional examinations are necessary to clarify the impact on myocardial perfusion. The results are crucial for further treatment.Due to technical development, current studies show that myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) is reliable in CT. The intention for the research stay is to deepen my knowledge in MPI in Dual-Energy CT (DE-CT) after drug induced stress.An international multi-center study is planned to assess the hemodynamic relevance of moderate coronary artery stenoses using stress MPI in dual-energy CT in comparison to MRI (reference standard). DE-CT allows additional raw data post-processing increasing soft-tissue contrast.In a prospective mono-center study diagnostic value and clinical outcome of dynamic stress MPI and static rest MPI using DE-CT will be assessed. Dynamic stress MPI provides additional calculation of the myocardial blood flow. Patients participating in this study suffer from moderate coronary artery stenoses or non-diagnostic CTAs due to a high calcium load in the coronary arteries.In the future, patients with intermediate cardiovascular risk or suspected acute coronary artery disease will benefit from a one-stop shop CT examination including evaluation of the coronary arteries and the myocardial perfusion. This CT examination has the potential of a high efficient diagnosis of hemodynamic relevant coronary artery stenoses and improved patient outcome.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: USA
• Host: Dr. Brian Ghoshhajra