OBJECTIVE Patients at low risk for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) who present to the emergency department complaining of acute chest pain place a substantial economic burden on the U.S. health care system. Noninvasive 64-MDCT coronary angiography may facilitate their triage, and we evaluated its cost-effectiveness. MATERIALS AND METHODS A microsimulation model was developed to compare costs an...

CT angiography is an emerging technique for noninvasive evaluation of peripheral vascular disease. CT was first used to evaluate the peripheral vasculature in the early 1990s. Single-detector spiral CT scanners were limited by their inability to cover the whole vasculature from the diaphragm to the feet quickly enough to track a contrast bolus. These limitations were overcome with the advent of...

AIMS The aim of our study was to investigate the accuracy of 64-slice computed tomography (CT) for assessing haemodynamically significant stenoses of coronary arteries. METHODS AND RESULTS CT angiography was performed in 67 patients (50 male, 17 female; mean age 60.1+/-10.5 years) with suspected coronary artery disease and compared with invasive coronary angiography. All vessels > or =1.5 mm ...

BACKGROUND Non-invasive coronary angiography by multislice spiral computed tomography (MSCT) is a promising method for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease (CAD). However, the clinical role of this method has not been established for specific patient cohorts. Therefore, the objective of the current prospective, blinded study was to investigate the diagnostic value of coronary MSCT angiograp...

A simple, practical method of applying incremental dynamic computed tomography (CT) to the imaging of 20 carotid bifurcations is described. The results are compared with those obtained by conventional carotid angiography and intravenous digital subtraction angiography (DSA). Conventional angiography provided additional information about the carotid bifurcation in only one of 14 cases, while inc...

AIM To analyze the accuracy of computed tomography (CT) angiography in the diagnosis of acute gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding. METHODS The MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cancerlit, Cochrane Library database, Sciencedirect, Springerlink and Scopus, from January 1995 to December 2009, were searched for studies evaluating the accuracy of CT angiography in diagnosing acute GI bleeding. Studies were included if ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Several retrospective studies suggested that contrast extravasation on CT angiography predicts hematoma expansion, poor outcome, and mortality in primary intracerebral hemorrhage. We aimed to determine the predictive value of contrast extravasation on multidetector CT angiography for clinical outcome in a prospective study. METHODS In 160 consecutive patients with spont...

Summary Brain death is defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the entire brain, including the brainstem. Brain death is principally established using clinical criteria including coma, absence of brainstem reflexes and loss of central drive to breathe assessed with apnea test. In situations in which clinical testing cannot be performed or when uncertainty exists about the reliab...

The investigation and treatment of coronary disease impose a significant burden on health service resources. Catheter coronary angiography remains the gold standard for the investigation of suspected coronary disease. Given the invasive nature and high costs of invasive coronary angiography, there is an increased interest in noninvasive methods to image the lumen of the coronary arteries. Recen...