title: Evaluation of image quality and radiation dose of thoracic and coronary dual-source CT in 110 infants with congenital heart disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There are only a few reports on the diagnostic accuracy, and the technical and clinical feasibility, of multidetector CT (MDCT) in infants with congenital heart disease (CHD).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the image quality and radiation dose of DSCT in babies with CHD.
  
  
  METHODS
  From November 2006 to November 2007, 110 consecutive infants with CHD referred for pre- or postoperative CT evaluation were included. All these infants had a spiral angiothoracic DSCT scan after injection of 300 mg/ml iopromide at 0.5-1 ml/s with a power injector using a low-dose protocol (80 kVp and 10 mAs/kg). Of these infants, 34 also underwent an ECG-gated coronary CT scan for evaluation of the course of the coronary arteries.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No serious adverse events were recorded. The mean dose-length product was 8+/-6 mGy x cm (effective dose 0.5+/-0.2 mSv) and 21+/-9 mGy x cm (effective dose 1.3+/-0.6 mSv) during the non-ECG-gated spiral acquisition and ECG-gated acquisition, respectively. Diagnostic quality images were achieved with the spiral acquisition in 89% of cases. Compared to the spiral mode, ECG-gated acquisition significantly improved the visualization of the coronary arteries, with a diagnostic rate of 91% and 84% for the left and right coronary arteries, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  DSCT together with iopromide at 300 mg/ml is a valuable tool for the routine clinical evaluation of infants with CHD. ECG-gated acquisition provides reliable visualization of the course of the coronary arteries.
authors.affiliation: Radiology Department, CC Marie Lannelongue, 133 av de la Résistance, Plessis-Robinson, 92350, France.
authors.forename: Moez
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ben Saad
authors.forename: Adela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rohnean
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sigal-Cinqualbre
authors.forename: Ghazal
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Adler
authors.forename: Jean-Francois
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Paul