[Estimation of cardiac output from dynamic contrast multispiral tomographic data]

To describe and apply a method for programmatically calculating central hemodynamic parameters from the data of dynamic contrast X-ray computed tomography (CT).

A procedure is proposed to calculate cardiac output (CO) on the basis of the tracer dilution method as a ratio of the injected dose of a contrast agent (Urografin, Shering AG, Austria) to the area under the concentration-time curve derived for one of the cardiac chambers: [see text]. The blood concentration of the agent was estimated from the blood iodine (I) concentration-X-ray density (XD) regression dependence: [XD] = 0.49+22.07 x [I]. Thirty-three patients were studied on a multispiral X-ray Somatom Sensation 4 computed tomograph (Siemens), by injecting 15-20 ml of Urografin. The calculating method was realized as a software package for processing dynamic contrast CT data.

The proposed method could exactly determine the values of cardiac output: the correlation with the results of the reference technique (Doppler echo measurement) was highly significant (r = 0.95; p < 0.001) in the whole range of values. Moreover, the data on XD could accurately determine the blood concentration of both iodine (I): [XD] = 0.49+22.07 x [I] and gadolinium as a component of the contrast paramagnetic Gd-DTPA for which the solution concentration-XR dependence was as follows: XD 1.2+33.6 x [Gd].

Thus, dynamic spiral CT may be also used for the estimation of cardiac output by the tracer dilution method.