IMAGING ROAD-MAP FOR CTA CORONARY REPORTING: POST PROCESSING MDCT TECHNIQUES IN DIAGNOSING SEVERITY OF CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE

Abstract

Purpose or Learning Objectives:

To learn the approach for easy interpretation of CTA coronary. To describe different post processing CT techniques to assess coronary artery lumen for presence of atherosclerotic disease. To describe vessel analysis tools in grading atherosclerosis, patency of grafts and in-stent disease. To highlight the factors affecting coronary artery appearance on CTA.

Background:

CT coronary angiography can depict atherosclerotic disease burden and has been used as a screening tool in patients with atypical chest pain. Appropriate knowledge of coronary angiography assessment tools on workstation is necessary in interpretation of coronary vasculature. This educational review provides an overview of the post processing MDCT techniques in outlining the atherosclerotic lesion and to differentiate it from cause of false positive cases.

Findings:

CT coronary angiography interpretation requires dedicated cardiac software on workstation. By following step-wise assessment of coronary images using the oblique multiplanar reconstruction, vessel analysis tool etc, disease cannot only by detected but also can be calculated in terms of area stenosis of involved vessel lumen.

Conclusion:

CT coronary angiogram with post processing techniques especially the vessel analysis tools is very useful in grading severity of coronary atherosclerosis.

Keywords:

Coronary atherosclerosis, CT Coronary angiography, Cardiac CT, Chest pain.