Cardiac CT angiography (CTA) is a recent and rapidly growing imaging modality. There is an exponentially increasing number of publications concerning this topic and the technology of CT is evolving rapidly. Thus, practical books dedicated to this topic are of great interest for education of both cardiologists and radiologists in this field. Providing concise and practical information in this field is a challenging task. This challenge has been successfully achieved by the authors, in this easy-to-read, 140-page handbook. This book is divided into 2 sections: the first is about calcium scoring and the second is on coronary CTA.

The first section provides the essentials of calcium scoring in a precise fashion and gives the most relevant information in this particular field, using many figures for clarity.

The second section provides basic but relatively complete information about cardiac CT. First, currently accepted indications for coronary and cardiac CTA are presented. Even if some references to the literature are missing, most of the potential indications are mentioned in a reasonable fashion and uncertainties due to insufficient data concerning many promising applications are underlined. The basic concepts of CTA are then clearly explained, with key technical information. How to get high quality images on a routine basis is explained. Best practices for patient selection and preparation and rules for injection and timing are also provided. Image quality problems are addressed with possible solutions to overcome these difficulties. Many references are included, but most of them refer to unpublished oral communications, probably because these references deal with punctual technical points, reflecting each authors' experience.

Interestingly, a systematic approach for reading and reporting a cardiac CT scan is proposed. Suggestions are offered to help readers deal with coronary CT images. Different approaches, preferred by other experts, are mentioned as alternatives. Finally, the authors encourage each reader to develop a personal method for analysis of the coronary artery tree.

The following chapter gives advices on how to report coronary CT angiography findings, taking into account actual limitations of the cardiac CT technique. This part is really important for beginners in this field.

The last chapter provides informations on specific clinical applications such as atypical chest pain, bypass or stent analysis, and valve assessment, and offers useful "pearls" for these particular situations. The end of the chapter describes the main congenital anomalies to be recognized by readers: here, some illustrations would have been useful.

In conclusion, Cardiac CT Angiography Manual is a practical user-oriented handbook that is recommended for any physician starting with cardiac CT angiography. It may also serve as a reference guide for trained physicians with growing experience in this field to check any technical or clinical points.