Visualization of coronary arteries with helical scanning CT

The purpose of this study was the visualization of coronary arteries by the diastolic reconstruction method with helical scanning (HES) CT. We chose diastolic phase images from the image data acquired with the HES technique using a continuous nutate-rotate fast CT scanner, because few motion artifacts are induced by cardiac pulsation during the slow filling diastolic phase. We assessed coronary diseases using this method based on HES-CT, and evaluated its clinical effectiveness. We also studied the clinical value of multiplanar reconstruction and three-dimensional surface reconstruction. The subjects consisted of 31 patients with coronary disease, aged 41-77 years. When a diastolic reconstruction HES-CT was employed, the average rate of visualization of the coronary arteries was 72%. An examination can be completed during a 30-second single breath-hold, permitting the acquisition of coronary artery images with excellent continuity. Calcified coronary arteries can be identified. (author)