An institutional review of the value of computed tomographic angiography in the diagnosis of congenital cardiac malformations.
The ultra-fast, thin-cut computerised tomographic angiogram is an efficient method to diagnose extracardiac lesions associated with congenital cardiac disease. For the purposes of this review, we evaluated various facets of the technique as used in 30 patients who were referred for diagnosis of congenital cardiac disease. The technique had high diagnostic accuracy, with a sensitivity of 93 percent in 15 of these patients referred for either interventional catheterisation or surgery. There were no immediate side-effects associated with the scanning procedure. The scan was also found to be more cost-effective as compared to an alternative noninvasive modality for imaging modality, namely magnetic resonance imaging. The angiographic technique, however, does expose the child to between 2 and 2.5 rems of radiation, despite the short period of scanning, of 10 plus or minus 2 seconds.
Chandran
Arun
A
Departments of Pediatric Cardiology and Radiology, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, Florida 32610-0296, USA. frickfj@pedcard.ufl.edu
Fricker
F Jay
FJ
Schowengerdt
Kenneth O
KO
Cumming
William A
WA
Saidi
Arwa
A
Spencer
Carolyn T
CT
Paolillo
Joseph
J
Samyn
Margaret M
MM
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D017023:Coronary Angiography / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D005431:Florida; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007223:Infant; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed