A rosetta stone for coronary calcium risk stratification: Agatston, volume, and mass scores in 11,490 individuals

OBJECTIVE. We introduce stratification data for three methods (Agatston, volume, mass) obtained from one single patient population. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Measurements in 11,490 individuals scanned from 1999 to 2002 with electron-beam CT were used for this study. RESULTS. Our Agatston score ranges agree reasonably well with the Kondos values except for measurements in patients at the extreme ages, at which we sampled a wider age range and consequently had different biases of averages. Neither method is preferable because except for a small percentage of individuals near the dividing lines, stratification is the same for the three methods. When we matched them against a known "lesion" phantom, the Agatston and volume scores behave nonlinearly, and the latter grossly overestimates volume. The mass method is linear except for lesions near the edge of detectability and matches known volumes to within a small percentage. CONCLUSION. We provide validated risk stratification data for use with mass scoring methods.