Evaluation of Coronary Artery Calcification Using Gated Stationary Chest Tomosynthesis

The proposed research, if successfully implemented, will result in a new method for evaluating coronary artery calcium scores (CACS) in individuals with coronary artery disease. Using the Cardiac Gated Stationary Chest Tomosynthesis (CG-SDCT) system the imaging dose for a a full tomosynthesis scan is expected to be only 10% of that from a low-dose CT. The targeted imaging time of 25-30 seconds is 1/2 of that from a current commercial DCT system at the same imaging dose. As with current commercial DCT systems, our s-DCT system will expose patients to less radiation and deliver comparable data for CACS. CG-SDCT will likely result in accurate CAC scoring and allow for a more complete patient risk assessment as compared to Framingham risk scoring alone.