Quantification of coronary calcification using high-resolution photon-counting-detector CT and an image domain denoising algorithm

Coronary artery calcification is an important indicator of coronary disease. Accurate volume quantification of coronary calcification using computed tomography (CT) is challenging due to calcium blooming. In this study, ex-vivo coronary specimens were scanned on an investigational photon-counting detector (PCD) CT scanner and the estimated coronary calcification volume were compared with a conventional energy-integrating detector (EID) CT. An image-based denoising algorithm was applied to the PCD-CT images to achieve similar noise levels as EID-CT. Calcifications were segmented to estimate the volume, with micro-CT images of the same calcifications serving as reference. PCD-CT images showed reduced calcium blooming artifacts.