Learning objectives
To learn a systematic lecture approach of heart images in thoracic and abdominal CT.
To recognize most frequent heart artifacts and normality variants.
To recognize relevant cardiac imaging findings in thoracic and abdominal CT.
To recognize thoracic and abdominal findings secondary to heart disease.
Background
Heart diseases are prevalent and clinically relevant.
Due to the increasing availability of CT,
faster acquisition times and multiplanar reconstruction software we can detect incidental cardiac pathology in thoracic and abdominal CT done for other reasons if we analyze heart with a systematic lecture approach.
As these studies are non-ECG gated CT movement artifacts are the rule and must be considered in our interpretation,
but despite this limitation,
relevant pathology can be diagnosed or suspected.
This is of major importance because sometimes heart disease or...
Findings and procedure details
Systematic analysis of heart images is mandatory.
We start looking to axial images,
searching abnormalities in different cardiac structures.Points toCheck inCT heart imagesFig. 2.
If we find signs suspicious of cardiac pathology (especially in cases of possible abnormalities in the myocardium,
septal defects or valvular pathology) we recommend to reconstruct images in the different cardiac axis for better visualization.
Multiplanar Reconstructions.
Fig. 3
As these studies are not ECG-gated CT there will be many movement artifacts that can obscure images and lead to misinterpretation,
so...
Conclusion
Heart diseases are prevalent and clinically relevant.
Improvement in CT technology and extensive clinical use of CT gives radiologists the opportunity of diagnosing heart diseases in scans done for other reason if a systematic lecture approach is used.
A general radiologist must be aware of this fact and be familiar with imaging findings of heart disease.
Personal information
Dr.
Enric Ripoll – Abdominal Radiology Section.
Department of Radiology (CDI),
Hospital Clínic de Barcelona,
Barcelona / Spain.
Mail:
[email protected]
Dr.
Flavio Zuccarino – Thoracic and Cardiac Imaging Section.
Department of Radiology (IMI),
Hospital del Mar.
Barcelona / Spain.
Mail:
[email protected]
Dr.
Helena Tizón - Cardiac Imaging Section.
Department of Cardiology,
Hospital del Mar.
Barcelona / Spain
Dr.
Luis del Carpio – Thoracic and Cardiac Imaging Section.
Department of Radiology (IMI),
Hospital del Mar.
Barcelona / Spain
Dr.
Marta Cufí – Thoracic and Cardiac Imaging...
References
Bruzzi JF,
Rémy-Jardin M et al.
When,
Why,
and How to Examine the Heart During Thoracic CT: Part 1,
Basic Principles.
American Journal of Roentgenology.
2006;186: 324-332.
10.2214/AJR.05.0717.
Bruzzi JF,
Rémy-Jardin M et al.
When,
Why,
and How to Examine the Heart During Thoracic CT: Part 2,
Clinical Applications.
American Journal of Roentgenology.
2006;186: 333-341.
10.2214/AJR.05.0718.
Zeeb LM and Green CE.
Detecting cardiac abnormalities on routine chest CT.
Applied Radiology June 2009.
www.appliedradiology.com.
Castillo de Juan J,
Alcalde Odriozola E et al.
The heart is...