Cardiac CT imaging in coronary artery disease: Current status and future directions

Computed tomography has undergone rapid developments over the last decades, in particular, the emergence and technological improvements of multislice CT scanners enable satisfactory performance of cardiac CT imaging. Cardiac CT has been widely used in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease, which is the leading cause of death in industrialized countries. Cardiac CT also provides valuable information to predict the extent and prognosis of coronary artery disease. The main disadvantage of cardiac CT imaging is radiation dose, which raises concern in recent years, as there is potential risk of radiation-induced malignancy. This article will provide an overview of the current research status of cardiac CT imaging in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease, highlight the key applications of cardiac CT imaging and briefly discuss future directions of this fast advancing technique.