Value of cardiac CT in comprehensive aortic valve and root evaluation before percutaneous aortic valve replacement.

Background: Aortic stenosis (AS) is the most frequent valvular heart disease, and patients who develop AS are at a high risk of sudden death. There is no medical cure available, and aortic valve replacement is the only effective treatment for advanced disease. Preoperative evaluation is the cornerstone of therapy and is necessary for selecting the implantation technique and valve.

Low radiation dose non-contrast cardiac CT: is it of value in the evaluation of mechanical aortic valve.

Background: Prosthetic bileaflet mechanical valve function has been traditionally evaluated using echocardiography and fluoroscopy. Multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) is a novel technique for cardiac evaluation.

Purpose: To evaluate bileaflet mechanical aortic valves using a low-milliampere (mA), non-contrast MDCT protocol with a limited scan range.