Congenital anomalies of the coronary arteries: imaging with contrast-enhanced, multidetector computed tomography.

The objective of this study is to evaluate multidetector CT (MDCT) in detecting and characterizing anomalous coronary arteries. Forty-four patients with anomalies of the coronaries were selected from a total of 1758 individuals examined with ECG-gated 4- and 16-row MDCT including thinMIP, MPR and VRT post-processing. Twenty-eight patients showed origin and course anomalies of the central coronary segments, and in this subgroup 13 were judged as "malignant" because of interarterial courses between the aortic root and the pulmonary trunk, either of the right coronary artery (n=11) or the left coronary artery (n=2).

Diagnostic accuracy of multidetector computed tomography coronary angiography in patients with angiographically proven coronary artery disease.

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy in detecting high-grade coronary stenoses in patients with known coronary artery disease (CAD) using multidetector computed tomography (MDCT).

Background: The MDCT systems with electrocardiographic (ECG)-gating permit visualization of the coronary arteries. However, severe calcifications and higher heart rates are known to degrade image quality and limit correct diagnosis.