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

CT scans were obtained with a Cine-CT Scanner that uses a rapidly moving focused electron beam. The 50-msec CT scans were obtained at two transverse levels simultaneously through the hearts of a series of four normal dogs and six patients, four with coronary artery disease and two with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Two scanning mode options were chosen. Myocardial wall thickening and motion were studied by obtaining ten 50-msec CT exposures during one heart-beat within less than one second (cine-CT mode). Regional myocardial blood flow was assessed by obtaining approximately 20 scans at the same level of the left ventricle; each 50-msec exposure was gated to the same phase of 20 sequential heartbeats after intravenous 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.