Goo Hyun Woo
Department of Radiology and Research Institute of Radiology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
Acta Radiol. 2013 Nov;54(9):1055-62. doi: 10.1258/ar.2012.120452. Epub 2013 Apr 30.
Cardiac CT is increasingly utilized in children thanks to advanced scan techniques reducing cardiac and respiratory motion artifacts. Consequently, clinical indications of cardiac CT are not confined to the extracardiac evaluation and extended further to the assessment of intracardiac structures, coronary arteries, ventricular volumetry, and ventricular function. In addition, dual-energy CT allows the assessment of regional lung perfusion and ventilation. Four-dimensional airway evaluation is also useful and may be added to cardiac CT protocols. At the same time, a favorable risk-benefit ratio of cardiac CT can be achieved by means of various dose-saving techniques. Therefore, flexible scan techniques with minimal motion artifacts, low dose techniques without compromising excellent image quality, and extended clinical applications towards truly cardiac assessments constitute current trends in cardiac CT in children.
由于先进的扫描技术减少了心脏和呼吸运动伪影，心脏CT在儿童中的应用越来越广泛。因此，心脏CT的临床应用不仅局限于心外评估，还进一步扩展到心内结构、冠状动脉、心室容积和心室功能的评估。此外，双能CT可用于评估局部肺灌注和通气。四维气道评估也很有用，可添加到心脏CT检查方案中。同时，通过各种剂量节省技术可以实现心脏CT良好的风险效益比。因此，具有最小运动伪影的灵活扫描技术、不影响优异图像质量的低剂量技术以及向真正心脏评估的扩展临床应用构成了儿童心脏CT的当前趋势。
