Innovations in Cardiac Computed Tomography: Cone Beam CT/Volume CT and Dual Source CT

Abstract

Two recent innovations in cardiac Computed Tomography (CT) of Cone Beam CT or Volume CT (VCT) and more recently, Dual-Source CT (DSCT) offer physicians clinically viable alternatives to invasive coronary angiography for the imaging of coronary artery stenoses. Performing the procedure termed CT angiography or Multi-Detector CT angiography, both technologies provide the necessary spatial and temporal resolution, in addition to a variety of other advantages to image the cardiac patient. Both report improvements over conventional CT with reduced acquisition time, greater image quality, and with DSCT an ability to perform cardiac imaging on tachycardic patients as well as reduce radiation dose, all without compromising image quality. While only being two examples of new technologies in cardiac imaging, VCT and DSCT represent the current and next steps, in what promises to be many exciting developments to come