{
  "abstract": "Background/Objectives: Optimizing coronary image quality is important in emergency computed tomography (CT), including coronary CT angiography (CCTA) and triple-rule-out CT angiography (TRO-CTA). We compared objective and subjective image quality between cardiac-specific artificial intelligence (AI) reconstruction and hybrid iterative reconstruction (HIR) using paired images from the same acquisition. Methods: This retrospective single-center study included 66 of 75 consecutively assessed emergency examinations: 28 standard CCTA and 38 TRO-CTA examinations acquired without pharmacologic heart-rate control. Both protocols used identical cardiac acquisition settings. AI and HIR images were reconstructed from the same acquisition with matched cardiac phases and motion-correction settings. Objective measurements were obtained at nine coronary locations, and two readers independently assessed overall image quality and perceived vessel-edge sharpness in unmasked paired comparisons. Results: AI reduced coronary noise from 45.8 ± 8.5 to 24.2 ± 7.5 Hounsfield units (HU; −47.3%), increased signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) from 9.0 ± 2.4 to 20.6 ± 5.6 (+129.6%), and increased contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) from 14.8 ± 4.2 to 45.8 ± 16.4 (+209.7%; all Holm-adjusted p < 0.001). Readers 1 and 2 preferred AI for overall quality in 65/66 and 63/66 examinations and for sharpness in 64/66 and 63/66, respectively. Conclusions: Cardiac-specific AI reconstruction reduced image noise and increased SNR and CNR in emergency CCTA, including TRO-CTA, with readers generally favoring AI images for perceived quality and sharpness. Further studies should evaluate whether these image-quality improvements translate into better diagnostic performance.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Radiology, Wonju Severance Christian Hospital, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, 20 Ilsan-ro, Wonju 26426, Republic of Korea",
    "United Imaging Healthcare North America, Houston, TX 77054, USA"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 4,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Sung Min Ko",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-7420-6269"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Hyunjung Kim"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Sung-Jin Cha"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Yongfeng Gao"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4f8wykj316k3d.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3390/jcm15207940",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13706594/?tool=EBI",
  "id": "4f8wykj316k3d",
  "issns": [
    "2077-0383"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/15/20/7940",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2741|Cardiac Imaging and Diagnostics"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7221805484",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13706594/pdf/?tool=EBI",
  "pmcid": "PMC13706594",
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-01",
  "publisher": "MDPI AG",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4f8wykj316k3d.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:20:00Z",
      "native_id": "10.3390/jcm15207940",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/15/20/7940"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:21:44Z",
      "native_id": "PMC:PMC13706594",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13706594"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2741|Cardiac Imaging and Diagnostics",
      "subfield": "imaging"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Cardiac-Specific AI Reconstruction Versus Hybrid Iterative Reconstruction for Emergency Coronary CT Angiography: A Paired Single-Center Study Including Triple-Rule-Out CT",
  "title_text": "Cardiac-Specific AI Reconstruction Versus Hybrid Iterative Reconstruction for Emergency Coronary CT Angiography: A Paired Single-Center Study Including Triple-Rule-Out CT",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:21:44Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4f8wykj316k3d",
  "venue": "Journal of Clinical Medicine",
  "versions": []
}