title: Visibility of the origin and proximal course of coronary arteries on non-ECG-gated heart CT in patients with congenital heart disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is little information on the ability of non-ECG-gated cardiac CT to demonstrate the coronary arteries of children.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the visibility of the origin and proximal course of coronary arteries on non-ECG-gated cardiac CT, in which the coronary artery was not of primary diagnostic concern, in children with congenital heart disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  From December 2002 to March 2004, 126 cardiac CT examinations from 104 children (median age 11 months; age range 1 day to 15 years) were evaluated. All patients had ventriculo-arterial concordance and no malformations of the great arteries; those with coronary artery anomalies were excluded. Contrast-enhanced 16-slice spiral CT was performed without ECG-gating and multiplanar images for coronary arteries were obtained. The visibility of coronary artery origins was graded on a three-point scale, while nine segments of the arteries were graded on a four-point scale. CT images in which it was possible to trace the coronary arteries were considered diagnostic. The visibility of each whole coronary artery and the origins and proximal four segments of coronary arteries were calculated. The visibility of coronary arteries was also correlated with patient age.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The percentage of CT images of diagnostic quality was 49.3% for the whole coronary artery and 81.7% for the origins and proximal four segments. There was a significant positive correlation between the visibility of coronary arteries and age.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Non-ECG-gated cardiac CT, in which the coronary artery is not of primary diagnostic concern, is frequently able to visualize the origin and proximal course of coronary arteries and may be helpful in detecting coronary artery anomalies in children with congenital heart disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Asan Medical Center, 388-1 Poongnap-2dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, 138-736, Republic of Korea. hwgoo@amc.seoul.kr
authors.forename: Hyun Woo
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Goo
authors.forename: In-Sook
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Jae Kon
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: Young Hwee
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Dong-Man
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.forename: Tae-Jin
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Yun
authors.forename: Jeong-Jun
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003330:Coronary Vessel Anomalies / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed