Cardiology, diagnostic imaging  

Turkish study shows electron beam CT better than angiography at detecting heart defect

25 October 2005

St. Louis, USA. A study of Turkish cardiology patients conducted by Saint Louis University School of Medicine has shown that electron-beam computed tomography (EBCT) is more accurate than conventional catheter angiography for detecting a dangerous congenital heart abnormality that could cause sudden death.

Esat Memisoglu, M.D., Assistant Professor of Radiology at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, and his team studied 28 adults at a heart hospital and imaging centre in Istanbul, Turkey, who had undergone conventional X-ray angiography for chest pain or shortness of breath and then later underwent an EBCT.

In half of the patients, angiography showed a congenital abnormality — for example, a left coronary artery originating from the right side of the aorta, or vice versa. EBCT also detected the abnormalities, but in more than a third of the cases, it was able to provide information the angiography could not. Specifically, it could confidently determine whether the artery travelled perilously between the aorta and pulmonary artery, putting that patient at risk for a heart attack or sudden death, Memisoglu says.

“The most crucial clinical question is whether the artery is coursing between the aorta and pulmonary artery. Angiography did not always give us the correct answer, but it was very easy to tell using EBCT,” said Memisoglu.

Traditional catheter angiography, an invasive two-dimensional projectional X-ray technique that involves passing a catheter through a patient’s groin artery to the heart vessels, is commonly used when physical examinations and other non-invasive tests are found to be negative in younger patients who experience chest pain or fainting during strenuous physical activity. However, catheter angiography “can lead to ambiguities because of its in defining complex vascular anatomy,” Dr. Memisoglu says.

In contrast, EBCT, which uses a specialized stationary X-ray tube and a high-resolution detector system, enables doctors to capture “practically blur-free” cross-sectional images of the beating heart, says Memisoglu. Because of its speed in capturing images — the study is completed in fewer than 30 seconds — patients don’t need medication to slow their heart rate.

The study was published in the September issue of Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions: Journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions.

Full story: www.slu.edu/readstory/newslink/6072

To top

To top