Coronary CT Angiography
Traditionally, non-invasive tests for coronary artery stenosis have focused on indirect measurements of heart muscle perfusion such as treadmill stress tests, nuclear medicine stress tests, and stress echocardiography. The coronary arteries are difficult to directly image due to cardiac motion and their small size. Currently, invasive conventional coronary angiography, using catheters directed into the coronary arteries is the “gold standard” for detection of coronary artery disease.
Recently, due to advances in CT technology, CT machines have been developed that have high enough resolution and are fast enough to image coronary arteries accurately. SDI Radiologists at Saint Joseph's Diagnostic Center use a state-of-the-art Siemens 64 slice multidetector CT (MDCT) to perform Coronary CT Angiography.
Coronary CT Angiography is a non-invasive test to evaluate a patient’s coronary arteries. This test involves a multi-detector CT scanner (MDCT) and an intravenous injection of X-ray contrast. Patients are given a beta-blocker to slow the heart rate.
Using the 64-slice CT scanner, a patient’s entire heart can be imaged in 4-5 seconds of scanning time. The data is reconstructed on our Vitrea workstation to yield a 3-D image of the patient’s heart and coronary arteries.
Recent studies have shown that Coronary CT Angiography to be very accurate in comparison to the invasive conventional coronary angiography, with accuracy as high as 93%.
Coronary CT Angiography is most appropriate for:
- Patients who are at risk for developing cardiac disease. This can include patients who smoke, have high cholesterol, experience chest pain, or have a family history of cardiac disease.
- Patients with indeterminate stress tests and no known cardiac disease.
- Evaluation of coronary artery grafts after cardiac bypass surgery
Coronary CT Angiography (CCTA) is now available at St. Joseph's Diagnostic Center (main campus only).
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