Three dimensional segmented myocardial perfusion images by selective intracoronary injection of contrast using 256 slice cone beam computed tomography.

I nformation of the segmented left ventricular (LV) area supplied by every coronary artery is potentially useful for strategy and practice of percutaneous coronary intervention, coronary artery bypass surgery, or percutaneous transluminal septal myocardial ablation (PTSMA). 2 Myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) with intracoronary contrast injection has been used to evaluate the segmented LV area supplied by a coronary artery but it is invasive and evaluation of myocardial enhancement by ultrasound contrast material may depend upon the skill of the investigator. With a prototype high speed cone beam computed tomography (CT) apparatus employing 256 detector rows (Athena, Sony-Toshiba), an entire heart can be imaged within a single gantry rotation. 4 Using this technique, combined with selective intracoronary injection of contrast, we determined the segmented LV area supplied by every coronary artery selectively.