[Multislice spiral computed tomography in the planning of transcatheter aortic valve replacement]

Surgical treatment for aortic valve (AV) pathology is an urgent and important problem of modern medicine. The prevalence of valve disease is great and remains steadily high in the population. Due to a large number of patients who cannot undergo open AV surgery, alternative hybrid treatments are recently being actively improved. Multislice spiral computed tomography (MSCT) is mandatory prior to transcatheter AV replacement as the examination results determine if a hybrid treatment can be performed and the access is transfemoral or transapical. MSCT provides the data necessary to determine the sizes and types of AV prostheses. The application of the current systems of 320-640 spiral tomographs will further improve MSCT as the method of choice in examining patients before transcatheter AV replacement.