Assessment of cardiac volumes by multidetector computed tomography.

Quantitative evaluation of cardiac ventricular and atrial chamber sizes, ventricular function, and left ventricular mass is important for prognosis and management. The most common methods for quantitative evaluation have been echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. Recently, multidetector cardiac computed tomography (CCT) technology has evolved to permit imaging of cardiac structure, function, volume, and mass. Potential advantages of CCT over existing methods include 3-dimensional volumetric assessment of cardiac chambers which are free of geometric assumptions and the ability to obtain true, on-axis imaging planes with double-oblique orientations.