title: CT colonography: techniques, indications, findings.
abstract: Computed tomographic colonography (CTC) is a minimally invasive technique for imaging the entire colon. Based on a helical thin-section CT of the cleansed and air-distended colon, two-dimensional and three-dimensional projections are used for image interpretation. Several clinical improvements in patient preparation, technical advances in CT, and new developments in evaluation software have allowed CTC to develop into a powerful diagnostic tool. It is already well established as a reliable diagnostic tool in symptomatic patients. Many experts currently consider CTC a comparable alternative to conventional colonoscopy, although there is still debate about its sensitivity for the detection of colonic polyps in a screening population. This article summarizes the main indications, the current techniques in patient preparation, data acquisition and data analysis as well as imaging features for common benign and malignant colorectal lesions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, A-1090 Vienna, Austria. thomas.mang@meduniwien.ac.at
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mang
authors.forename: Anno
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Graser
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Schima
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maier
mesh_terms: D003111:Colonic Polyps / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D023881:Colonography, Computed Tomographic / Q000379:methods*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D003287:Contrast Media; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D007455:Iodine; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D007455:Iodine