Skip Navigation

European Heart Journal 2008 29(6):701-703; doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehn052
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Related articles in EHJ
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Cademartiri, F.
Right arrow Articles by Mollet, N. R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Cademartiri, F.
Right arrow Articles by Mollet, N. R.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. © The Author 2008. For permissions please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Is dual-source CT coronary angiography ready for the real world?

Filippo Cademartiri1,2,*, Erica Maffei2 and Nico R. Mollet1

1 Department of Radiology and Cardiology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
2 Department of Radiology and Cardiology, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria/University Hospital, Parma, Italy

* Corresponding author. Email address: filippocademartiri@hotmail.com

This editorial refers to ‘Dual-source computed tomography coronary angiography: influence of obesity, calcium load, and heart rate on diagnostic accuracy’ {dagger} by H. Alkadhi et al., on page 766

Footnotes

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those of the Editors of the European Heart Journal or of the European Society of Cardiology.

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

CT coronary angiography (CTCA) represents one of the major innovations in cardiac imaging over the past 10 years. The introduction of 64-slice1,2 and dual-source3,4 CT scanners allowed the clinical implementation of this technique in non-invasive coronary artery imaging.

The pros of CTCA are: non-invasiveness; the ability to visualize both the lumen and the coronary artery wall, and consequently to identify atherosclerotic plaques; and the ability to investigate the spatial relationships between cardiac structures.

More than 5000 scanners with ≥64 slices are installed around the world and more than 4000 have cardiac imaging capabilities. These figures are continually growing.

However, the proper use of this tool is still under discussion and for some researchers is even controversial. Studies dealing with clinical outcome and cost-effectiveness are still . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Parameters reducing image quality and diagnostic accuracy

BMI, calcium, and heart rate
Intermediate pre-test likelihood/probability/prevalence of disease

Future perspectives

Chest pain triage
Prognostic value/risk stratification
Conclusions


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?

Related articles in EHJ:

Dual-source computed tomography coronary angiography: influence of obesity, calcium load, and heart rate on diagnostic accuracy
Hatem Alkadhi, Hans Scheffel, Lotus Desbiolles, Oliver Gaemperli, Paul Stolzmann, André Plass, Gerhard W. Goerres, Thomas F. Luescher, Michele Genoni, Borut Marincek, Philipp A. Kaufmann, and Sebastian Leschka
EHJ 2008 29: 766-776. [Abstract] [FREE Full Text]