Multislice cardiac CT has become one of the major drivers in CT technology and, with the advent of 64-slice technology, this imaging modality has entered into clinical routine. Novel technology such as dual-source CT promises even further clinical robustness and ease. The second edition of Ohnesorge et. al.'s Multi-Slice and Dual-Source CT in Cardiac Imaging, recently published by Springer, is the latest book available on this topic.

In no other area of computed tomography does the clinical application depend on the technology of the scanner as much as in cardiac CT. Thus, the challenge to edit a book covering both technology and clinical application was considerable. Ohnesorge and his team of 25 contributors cover, in 370 pages, not only scanner technology, exam protocols, cardiac anatomy and clinical applications, but also the history of cardiac CT and future developments.

The technical section of this volume is separated into a general part, in which multislice CT is reviewed without overwhelming the clinician with unnecessary physics details, and a focused part in which the technical principals and challenges of cardiac CT are explained in depth. Especially in this section, it is enjoyable that all explanations are clinically oriented and leave the reader with a thorough background knowledge of all possible ECG-synchronized exams. The chapter on exam strategies and post-processing techniques, which again is clinically oriented and easy to read, is particularly important for clinicians.

The second major strength of this book is its clinical section, which contains 15 chapters covering all possible clinical indications for cardiac CT and an attached CD-ROM with 10 clinical cases for training purposes.  Classic non-contrast-enhanced exams such as calcium scoring are discussed and put into perspective of a clinician as well as coronary artery angiography. Contrast-enhanced scanning techniques, which are increasingly used in clinical routine, are covered in detail.  In addition to common techniques, such as imaging to rule out coronary artery disease and plaque as well as bypass and stent imaging, the book also discusses novel indications. Whether the topic is coronary malformations, congenital heart disease in children and adults, valvular disease or functional aspects of the myocardium, all sections are written carefully.

In this volume, readers will find all the necessary information for performing and interpreting cardiac CT. Its compact format makes it easy to read, especially since the text is supported by almost 400 illustrations and figures. The illustrations in the technical section make complicated physics easy to understand while those in the clinical section depict all relevant pathologies.  Overall, this book is well-rounded and thus a must-have for everyone involved in cardiac scanning, including radiologists, cardiologists, technicians and referring physicians.