Advances in imaging protocols for cardiac MDCT: from 16- to 64-row multidetector computed tomography

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the Western world. Since the majority of all invasive diagnostic coronary angiography procedures are not followed by therapeutic interventions, interest is growing in noninvasive technologies to diagnose and visualize CAD. The most promising of these is multislice spiral computed tomography (MSCT), which can visualize human coronary arteries in vivo noninvasively. Since 1999, this technique has improved rapidly, offering faster gantry rotation times and smaller voxel sizes. The image quality has become significantly more stable and MSCT has become a robust imaging modality. Beginning with 4-slice scanners in 1999, the latest scanner generation employs 64 slices. The present article summarizes the technical principles, image protocols and possible clinical applications of the current 64-row scanners.