To improve risk stratification and monitoring of coronary artery disease, the researchers have recently developed software for automated noninvasive measurement of coronary plaque from CT angiography studies, said Damini Dey, PhD, of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Previous research published in the November 2010 issue of Radiology found agreement between the software and invasive ultrasound for quantifying noncalcified plaque. Following up on this work, the researchers sought to validate the automated quantitative plaque analysis and coronary artery remodeling index in comparison with expert readers.

"Our study shows that our automated plaque analysis allows close agreement with expert readers, at a fraction of the time needed," Dey told AuntMinnie.com. "The automated tool in this study could potentially be applied routinely to provide rapid, noninvasive quantitative assessment of coronary plaques from coronary CT angiography."