REVIEW  CARDIAC COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY THE DATA AND EVOLVING APPLICATIONS 

Minerva Cardioangiologica 2017 June;65(3):265-77

DOI: 10.23736/S0026-4725.16.04267-5

Copyright © 2016 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Dual energy cardiac computed tomography

Patricia CARRASCOSA, Alejandro DEVIGGIANO, Gastón A. RODRIGUEZ-GRANILLO ✉

Department of Cardiovascular Imaging, Diagnóstico Maipú, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Conventional single energy CT suffers from technical limitations related to the polychromatic nature of X-rays. Dual energy cardiac CT (DECT) shows promise to attenuate and even overcome some of these limitations, and might broaden the scope of patients eligible for cardiac CT towards the inclusion of higher risk patients. This might be achieved as a result of both safety (contrast reduction) and physiopathological (myocardial perfusion and characterization) issues. In this article, we will review the main clinical cardiac applications of DECT, that can be summarized in two core aspects: coronary artery evaluation, and myocardial evaluation.

KEY WORDS: Tomography, X-ray computed - Perfusion - Fibrosis - Iodine