Cardiac imaging with a high-speed Cine-CT Scanner: preliminary results.

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Abstract
CT [computed tomography] scans were obtained with a Cine-CT Scanner that uses a rapidly moving focused electron beam. The 50 ms CT scans were obtained at 2 transverse levels simultaneously through the hearts of a series of 4 normal dogs and 6 patients, 4 with coronary artery disease and 2 with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Two scanning mode options were chosen. Myocardial wall thickening and motion were studied by obtaining ten 50 ms CT exposures during 1 heart-beat within < 1 s (cine-CT mode). Regional myocardial blood flow was assessed by obtaining .apprx. 20 scans at the same level of the left ventricle; each 50 ms exposure was gated to the same phase of 20 sequential heart-beats after i.v. administration of contrast medium (dynamic mode). These initial studies show the feasibility of defining regional and global myocardial contraction using the cine-CT mode and the considerable potential for measuring regional myocardial perfusion using the flow (dynamic) mode. [Implications with respect to the diagnosis of cardiac conditions are presented.].