Faster than Every Beating Heart
Coronary CTA of a patient with varying heart rate of 79-86 bpm during the scan.
The difference between being fast and being faster than every beating heart?
No beta-blockers, no exceptions.
Until today, cardiac imaging was only feasible if the patient’s heart rate was adequately low and stable. Now, with Dual Source CT, cardiac imaging is twice as fast as with the fastest single source CT. You are able to perform reliable cardiac imaging not only independent of the heart rate, but also without the compromises of beta-blockers or multisegment reconstruction.
Freezing the motion of every patient’s heart is what SOMATOM Definition has been designed for. Making a difference in cardiac CT, it enables you to confidently perform cardiac examinations without compromises – turning cardiac CT into daily clinical routine.
How It Works
Optimal cardiac imaging can be best
achieved in the diastolic phase, which
becomes shorter as the heart rate
increases. To take a cardiac image, CT
scanners have to obtain data projections
of 180 degrees. The crucial factor,
called temporal resolution, is how long
it takes to obtain these data.
To increase temporal resolution, the
conventional approach is a faster rotation
speed that, at three rotations per second,
has reached its current physical limit.
A second approach is multisegment
software reconstruction, where smaller
data sets are acquired in consecutive
heart cycles. A potential increase of
temporal resolution, however, strongly
depends on the heart rate. In addition,
as data sets of different heartbeats have
to be added and coronary arteries move
between each cardiac cycle, the resulting
image loses quality.
Dual Source CT, on the other hand,
overcomes these limitations, as the
two source/detector combinations
simultaneously collect a data set of
90 degrees each during one heartbeat.
Based on 0.33 s rotation time, this
concept provides a heart-rate-independent
temporal resolution of 83 ms.
At a low and stable heart rate, the time a single source CT scanner needs for imaging is sufficient. Despite a possible higher temporal resolution of multisegment reconstruction, the result would not improve. The substantially higher temporal resolution of Dual Source CT, on the other hand, eliminates residual motion.
At higher or varying heart rates, the diastolic phase is too short for a single source CT scanner, resulting in poor image quality. Even multisegment reconstruction cannot meet the challenge adequately, as the acquired data sets needed for one image originate from different heart cycles. Dual Source CT, on the other hand, delivers sharp and detailed cardiac images at all heart rates.
Clinical Benefits
Economic Benefits
Technical Benefits
Depends on system configuration.
