OPTIMIZING OUTCOMES IN CT IMAGING Priceless Clinical Pearls in the Performance of Cardiac CT

T he emergence of 64-slice CT scanners and associated software capable of complex 3-dimensional image reconstruction of coronary arteries has revolutionized our approach to patients with cardiovascular disease. Ultrafast CT coronary angiography (CTCA) is capable of providing diagnosticquality coronary images of soft noncalcified plaque and calcified plaque in the vast majority of patients evaluated with impressive sensitivity and specificity. With spatial resolution of 64-slice CT scanners as low as 0.4 mm, coupled with a positive predictive accuracy above 95% for the presence of coronary artery disease RICMS0002(GE)_03-14.qxd 3/14/08 3:25 PM Page S