Cardiac Valve Diseases and Treatments Open access Peer reviewed

CT-based multi-threshold calcium scoring for aortic valve assessment: comparable predictive performance across HU thresholds in a pre-TAVI cohort

Michael Welt, Mohammad Alnees, Yazan Hamdan, Khaled khalilia and 13 more

The International Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging | Aug 14, 2026

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Higher HU thresholds did not outperform conventional 130-HU scoring and showed only modest, comparable performance for within-severity hemodynamic stratification, and should be interpreted as complementary densitometric analyses rather than alternative diagnostic cut-offs.

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To determine whether higher Hounsfield unit (HU) thresholds for computed tomography-derived aortic valve calcium (CT-AVC) scoring provide additional hemodynamic or discriminatory value beyond conventional 130-HU Agatston scoring in classical high-flow/high-gradient severe aortic stenosis (AS). This single-center retrospective cohort included 63 consecutive pre-TAVI patients with trileaflet, classical high-flow/high-gradient severe AS. CT-AVC was quantified on non-contrast ECG-gated CT at 130, 200, 500, 800, and 1000 HU within a manually defined leaflet/annulus region of interest, excluding left ventricular outflow tract and mitral annular calcification. Associations with peak gradient, mean gradient, and aortic valve area were assessed using correlation and multivariable linear regression.Exploratory ROC analysis assessed discrimination of very severe hemodynamic burden, defined as a mean gradient ≥ 60 mmHg, within the established severe-AS cohort, with ROC areas compared using DeLong testing. CT-AVC at all HU thresholds was independently associated with higher peak gradient (β, 0.010 at 130 HU to 0.144 at 1000 HU; all P ≤ 0.005) and higher mean gradient (β, 0.0059 at 130 HU to 0.073 at 1000 HU; all P ≤ 0.024). Associations with aortic valve area were not statistically significant. Within-cohort discrimination of very severe hemodynamic burden was modest and comparable across thresholds (AUC 0.65-0.67), with no statistically significant difference by DeLong testing (P = 0.68). In classical high-flow/high-gradient severe AS, CT-AVC demonstrated consistent associations with transvalvular gradients across HU thresholds. Higher HU thresholds did not outperform conventional 130-HU scoring and showed only modest, comparable performance for within-severity hemodynamic stratification. These thresholds should be interpreted as complementary densitometric analyses rather than alternative diagnostic cut-offs.

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Researchers on this paper

Michael Welt

first | Kaplan Medical Center

Mohammad Alnees

middle | Harvard Global Health Institute | ORCID 0000-0002-5577-8499

Yazan Hamdan

middle

Khaled khalilia

middle | Kaplan Medical Center

Tamar Shalmon

middle | Kaplan Medical Center

Jebrin Alkrinawi

middle | Kaplan Medical Center

Ramon Cohen

middle | Kaplan Medical Center | ORCID 0000-0001-5615-4066

Mustafa Abu Teer

middle | Kaplan Medical Center | ORCID 0009-0007-0018-2288

Elias Hellou

middle | Rappaport Family Institute for Research in the Medical Sciences

Nizar Abu Hamdeh

middle | Kaplan Medical Center | ORCID 0009-0000-4209-0137

Amir Haim

middle | Kaplan Medical Center | ORCID 0000-0002-0022-3023

Omar Ayyad

middle | Kaplan Medical Center

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BibTeX

@article{Welt2026based,
  title = {CT-based multi-threshold calcium scoring for aortic valve assessment: comparable predictive performance across HU thresholds in a pre-TAVI cohort},
  author = {Michael Welt and Mohammad Alnees and Yazan Hamdan and Khaled khalilia and Tamar Shalmon and Jebrin Alkrinawi and Ramon Cohen and Mustafa Abu Teer and Elias Hellou and Nizar Abu Hamdeh and Amir Haim and Omar Ayyad and Adam Hasan and Mohammad Masu’d and Duha Najajra and Alex Blatt and Haitham Abu Khadija},
  journal = {The International Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1007/s10554-026-03800-y},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s10554-026-03800-y}
}

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