Direct coronal body computed tomography

Three patient positioning technique have been developed for direct coronal computed tomography (CT) of the body, covering the complete torso: position A, to study pelvis, including retroperitoneal space and lower abdomen; position B, to study upper abdomen and lower chest; and position C, to study upper chest, including neck and posterior fossa. In comparison with multiplanar reformatting (MPR), direct coronal CT has three basic advantages: (a) image quality is improved as a result of a lack of partial volume averaging and patient motion disturbance; (b) the direct coronal planes can be truly parallel to the spinal axis, due to stretching of the lordotic segments of the spine; and (c) examination time is reduced, since a large number of overlapping slices and time consuming MPR effort are not required. Direct coronal CT of the body has been carried out in more than 600 cases and was often uniquely informative. In our institution, use of MPR CT is now restricted to small volumes and/or disabled patients.