Dual-source CT: Practical aspects of techniques and applications

Abstract

The quest for non-invasive imaging of cardiac maladies began with conventional radiography and continues to day. Echocardiography has established itself as the screening and diagnostic modality of choice for a variety of cardiac ailments. Since the early 1990s, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has also become an imaging standard of reference for a variety of cardiac pathologies, including cardiac tumors, myocarditis, cardiomyopathies, viability, complex congenital heart diseases, and valvular heart diseases. However, up until the development of multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) scanners, the imaging of coronary artery diseases with a noninvasive imaging test was a largely elusive approach; instead, invasive conventional coronary catheterization remained and, to date, firmly remains, the imaging modality for most coronary artery diseases. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Milan.