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Keywords:
Cardiac, Cardiovascular system, CT-Angiography, Comparative studies, Arteriosclerosis
Authors:
H. Nebelung, I. Platzek, U. Speiser, T. Brauer, M. Laniado, R. Strasser; Dresden/DE
DOI:
10.1594/ecr2017/C-2833
Aims and objectives
In computed tomography angiography (CTA) image quality is fundamental influenced by contrast injection timing.
As heart rate and cardiac output vary greatly among patients,
the time interval between the start of contrast injection and the start of the CTA itself has to be individually adapted for each examination.
Currently,
bolus tracking is the preferred method for determining the optimal starting point for CTA data acquisition after contrast injection[1].
The bolus tracking technique uses repeated low dose single slice CT scans at a specific position,
which depends on the anatomical region to be examined.
A region of interest (ROI) placed within this slice triggers the start of CTA acquisition when a threshold value of density is reached.
The position of bolus tracking in the left atrium (Fig. 1 - A) is preferred for the triple-rule-out CT angiography (TRO-CTA),
whereas in conventional coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) the position of bolus tracking is usually chosen in the ascending aorta (Fig. 1 - B).
These choices of bolus tracking positioning are empirical and have not been investigated in detail yet.
Fig. 1: Region of interest (ROI) used for bolus tracking. ROI positioned in the left atrium (A) and in the ascending aorta (B).
The aim of this study was to assess the influence of bolus tracking positioning on image quality in CCTA.