Newsletter - August / September 2014     Dear MDCT.net users, The early detection of cardiothoracic pathologies, in patients at risk, depends on the availability of noninvasive diagnostic imaging modalities. CT angiography is widely used to screen for, characterize and stage lesions of the heart, aorta and pulmonary vasculature. The diagnostic accuracy of this examination depends on intensity of the enhancement provided by the contrast medium, as explained in the new Focus on by Professor Paul published this month on MDCT.net. One concern about the use of CT-based diagnostic methods is exposing patients to ionizing radiation. How to reduce radiation exposure during chest CT was addressed in a lecture given by Dr. Iezzi at this year’s meeting of the European Society of Thoracic Imaging, now available as an e-lecture on MDCT.net. As he explained, low-dose scanning protocols require that additional efforts be made to maintain image quality. Besides using new, more powerful image-processing algorithms, another approach is to use contrast medium with a high iodine concentration, permitting high iodine flux and, hence, strong arterial enhancement without needing to increase contrast medium volume or injection rate. The selection of recent research literature and the extract of the Atlas of CT Angiography listed here provide additional information on cardiothoracic CT angiography. Finally, the four clinical cases provide practical examples of the use of this advanced technique. We remind you that suggestions for new topics to be covered in future issues are appreciated: for this purpose please contact us at editorial@mdct.net . From the MDCT.net team     view »       • Kim SM, Cho YK, Choe YH.  Adenosine-stress dynamic myocardial perfusion imaging using 128-slice dual-source CT in patients with normal body mass indices: effect of tube voltage, tube current, and iodine concentration on image quality and radiation dose. Int J Cardiovasc Imaging. 2014 Aug 26. [Epub ahead of print] • Katsanos S, van Rosendael P, Kamperidis V et al.  Pericardial effusion following transcatheter aortic valve implantation: echocardiography and multi-detector row computed tomography evaluation. Int J Cardiovasc Imaging. 2014 Aug 17. [Epub ahead of print] • Wichmann JL, Hu X, Kerl JM et al.   Non-linear blending of dual-energy CT data improves depiction of late iodine enhancement in chronic myocardial infarction. Int J Cardiovasc Imaging. 2014 Aug;30(6):1145-1150 • Di Cesare E, Gennarelli A, Di Sibio A et al.  Assessment of dose exposure and image quality in coronary angiography performed by 640-slice CT: a comparison between adaptive iterative and filtered back-projection algorithm by propensity analysis. Radiol Med. 2014 Aug;119(8):642-649 • Belgrano M, Bregant P, Djoguela MF et al.   256-slice CT coronary angiography: in vivo dosimetry and technique optimization. Radiol Med. 2014 Apr;119(4):249-256 • Wiegerinck EM, Marquering HA, Oldenburger NY et al.  Imaging for approach selection of TAVI: assessment of the aorto-iliac tract diameter by computed tomography-angiography versus projection angiography. Int J Cardiovasc Imaging. 2014 Feb;30(2):399-405 • Kilic K, Erbas G, Ucar M et al. Determination of lowest possible contrast volume in computed tomography pulmonary angiography by using pulmonary transit time. Jpn J Radiol. 2014 Feb;32(2):90-97       From ESTI Symposium, Amsterdam, June 2014 Tailoring protocols for chest CT applications: when and how R. Iezzi view »     Worsening dyspnea and cardiac murmur Man, 40 years old view » Fever and pain after thoracic surgery Woman, 32 years old view » Follow-up on aortic graft Man, 75 years old view » Cardiac murmur Girl, 9 years old view »     Atlas of CT Angiography - Normal and Pathologic Findings Miclaus GD, Ples H Springer 2014 • Table of Contents • Coronary Angiography view »     If you wish to be removed from this email list, please click here If you would like to view our Privacy Policy, click here