Image quality, contrast enhancement, and radiation dose of ECG-triggered high-pitch CT versus non-ECG-triggered standard-pitch CT of the thoracoabdominal aorta.

Objective: We sought to compare image quality, contrast enhancement, and radiation dose in patients undergoing ECG-triggered high-pitch helical CT or non-ECG-synchronized helical CT of the thoracoabdominal aorta.

Materials And Methods: We retrospectively assessed data from 101 consecutive patients (81 men, 20 women; mean age, 71 ± 11 [SD] years) undergoing clinically indicated CT angiography (CTA) of the thoracoabdominal aorta on a dual-source scanner using either the ECG-triggered high-pitch helical mode (group 1, n = 52) or non-ECG-synchronized standard-pitch helical mode (group 2, n = 49) during the arterial phase. Two independent readers assessed image quality, noise, and contrast enhancement throughout the thoracoabdominal aorta.

Pseudocoarction of the aorta and crossed fused ectopic kidney assessed by multidetector computed tomography.

Aortic pseudocoarctation is a congenital abnormality consisting of an elongated aortic arch with a kink at level of the isthmus. However, unlike coarctation, significant flow obstruction is not associated with pseudocoarctation, although there is an increased incidence other cardiovascular anomalies. This case demonstrates the use of multidetector CT as part of the clinical evaluation of a 49-year-old male with suspected aortic coarctation, leading to the final diagnosis of pseudocoarctation, as well as the incidental discovery of a crossed fused ectopic kidney.