title: Potential indications for coronary angiography by computed tomography.
abstract: Recent advances in computed tomography technology have made possible angiographic images of relatively small, moving vascular structures such as the coronary arteries. Computed tomographic coronary angiography is an exciting modality which has several obvious advantages over invasive catheterization, such as its relatively noninvasive nature and rapid speed of acquisition. However, significant drawbacks still exist, including limitations of spatial and temporal resolution and radiation exposure. Computed tomographic coronary angiography appears best suited as a diagnostic modality for the patient population with a low-to-moderate pretest probability of coronary artery disease, and for specific indications such as the imaging of coronary anomalies and bypass grafts and before biventricular pacemaker placement and atrial fibrillation ablation.
authors.affiliation: Mid America Heart Institute, Kansas City, MO, USA. rthompson@cc-pc.com
authors.forename: Randall C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: Gregory S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Tsunehiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yasuda
authors.forename: Mylan C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: Roger D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Des Prez
mesh_terms: D017023:Coronary Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D025401:Echocardiography, Stress; D006801:Humans; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed