Left Atrial Volume Quantification Using Coronary Calcium Score Scan: Feasibility, Reliability and Reproducibility Analysis of a Standardized Approach

Overview

Journal Int J Cardiol Heart Vasc

Date 2019 Apr 13

PMID 30976656

Citations 2

Authors

Andrea Cardona

Vincenzo Trovato

Haikady N Nagaraja

Subha V Raman

Thura T Harfi

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Left atrial volume (LAV) is an independent prognosticator of cardiovascular events. We investigated whether LAV could be accurately and reliably measured using coronary calcium score (CAC) scan.

Methods: We retrospectively selected consecutive patients that underwent coronary CT angiography (CCTA) and CAC scans. A standardized approach to calculate LAV on images was implemented. The measurements of the LAV on CAC scans and CCTA were performed one to three weeks apart in a random fashion by two readers blinded to the results of each other. The LAV measurements from CAC scan were compared to those from CCTA using correlation analysis. Inter-observer and intra-observer agreement of LAV measurement using CAC scan was evaluated.

Results: Final analysis included one hundred subjects, mean age 52 ± 12 years, 48% male. There was a trend of a marginally larger, albeit not clinically significant, mean LAV calculated using CAC scan compared to that using CCTA: 74.3 vs. 71.0 mL:  < 0.001; for reader 1, and 71.7 vs. 71.2 mL  = 0.06 for reader 2, respectively. LAV using CAC scan and CCTA were highly correlated ( = 0.954,  < 0.001 for reader1 and  = 0.945,  < 0.001 for reader 2). There was high reproducibility within each reader with ICC of 0.951 and 0.989 for readers 1 and 2, respectively ( < 0.001). Finally, there was high inter-observer agreement as indicated by of 0.97 and ICC of 0.96 ( < 0.001 for both).

Conclusions: Quantification of LAV from CAC scan using the proposed standardized approach is feasible, highly reliable and reproducible as compared to CCTA.

Citing Articles

AI-enabled left atrial volumetry in coronary artery calcium scans (AI-CAC) predicts atrial fibrillation as early as one year, improves CHARGE-AF, and outperforms NT-proBNP: The multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis.

Naghavi M, Yankelevitz D, Reeves A, Budoff M, Li D, Atlas K J Cardiovasc Comput Tomogr. 2024; 18(4):383-391.

PMID: 38653606 PMC: 11216863. DOI: 10.1016/j.jcct.2024.04.005.

Left atrial volume, a simple measure but strong predictor of cardiovascular events in non-contrast computed tomography.

Sierra-Galan L Int J Cardiol Heart Vasc. 2019; 23:100368.

PMID: 31080876 PMC: 6503131. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijcha.2019.100368.

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