Aortic valve calcification (AVC) in aortic stenosis patients has diagnostic and prognostic implications. Little is known about the interchangeability of AVC obtained from different multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) software solutions. Contrast-enhanced MDCT data sets of 50 randomly selected aortic stenosis patients were analysed using three different software vendors (3Mensio, CVI42, Syngo.Via). A subset of 10 patients were analysed twice for the estimation of intra-observer variability. Intra- and inter-observer variability were determined using the ICC reliability method, Bland-Altman analysis and coefficients of variation. No differences were revealed between the software solutions in the AVC calculations (3Mensio 941 ± 623, Syngo.Via 948 mm3 ± 655, CVI42 941 ± 637; p = 0.455). The best inter-vendor agreement was found between the CVI42 and the Syngo.Via (ICC 0.997 (CI 0.995-0.998)), followed by the 3Mensio and the CVI42 (ICC 0.996 (CI 0.922-0.998)), and the 3Mensio and the Syngo.Via (ICC 0.992 (CI 0.986-0.995)). There was excellent intra- (3Mensio: ICC 0.999 (0.995-1.000); CVI42: ICC 1.000 (0.999-1.000); Syngo.Via: ICC 0.998 (0.993-1.000)) and inter-observer variability (3Mensio: ICC 1.000 (0.999-1.000); CVI42: ICC 1.000 (1.000-1.000); Syngo.Via: ICC 0.996 (0.985-0.999)) for all software types. Contrast-enhanced MDCT-derived AVC scores are interchangeable between and reproducible within different commercially available software solutions. This is important since sufficient reproducibility, interchangeability and valid results represent prerequisites for accurate TAVR planning and its widespread clinical use.
Keywords: aortic stenosis; aortic valve calcification; contrast-enhanced MDCT; inter-vendor variability.