CT Imaging of Coronary Stents: Past, Present, and Future

Coronary stenting became a mainstay in coronary revascularization therapy. Despite tremendous advances in therapy, in-stent restenosis (ISR) remains a key problem after coronary stenting. Coronary CT angiography evolved as a valuable tool in the diagnostic workup of patients after coronary revascularization therapy. It has a negative predictive value in the range of 98% for ruling out significant ISR. As CT imaging of coronary stents depends on patient and stent characteristics, patient selection is crucial for success. Ideal candidates have stents with a diameter of 3 mm and more. Nevertheless, even with most recent CT scanners, about 8% of stents are not accessible mostly due to blooming or motion artifacts. While the diagnosis of ISR is currently based on the visual assessment of the stent lumen, functional information on the hemodynamic significance of in-stent stenosis became available with the most recent generation of dual source CT scanners. This paper provides a comprehensive overview on previous developments, current techniques, and clinical evidence for cardiac CT in patients with coronary artery stents.