Electrocardiographic assistance in multidetector CT of thoracic disorders

ECG-synchronized multislice spiral CT (MSCT) allows a significant reduction of cardiac motion artefacts and as a result a virtually artefact-free display of intrathoracic structures. With their advantages in imaging geometry and continuous spiral image acquisition multislice CT scanners provide superior image quality and spatial resolution in these patients. Possible clinical applications for ECG assistance in MSCT include CT angiography of the coronary arteries, functional cardiac CT imaging and imaging of the cardiac valves, CT angiography of the aorta or pulmonary vascular tree as well as ECG-gated imaging of the lung parenchyma. Prospective ECG triggering and retrospectively ECG-gated image reconstruction comprise the technical corsage for reduction of pulsation artefacts in cardiac and other thoracic CT applications. In addition the development of time-optimised reconstruction algorithms for retrospective cardiac gating in 8- and 16 slice spiral CT scanners have enabled further improvements in temporal resolution. This overview describes the technique, its clinical indications and the merits of electrocardiographic assistance in MSCT of chest disorders.