Dear AuntMinnie Member,
Coronary CT angiography (CTA) continues to make headlines, as evidenced by a number of presentations from last week's RSNA show in Chicago. This week in our CT Digital Community we bring you coverage of research that found that coronary CTA can be used to triage which heart patients can be safely discharged from the emergency department.
U.S. researchers used a 64-detector-row system to scan patients with acute chest pain who otherwise had normal clinical indicators. Of the patients who had normal CTA exams, none demonstrated acute coronary syndrome after 30 days. For more details, click here.
In other news, we're featuring a pair of stories on CT dose reduction. In the first article, a U.S. team used filters to reduce dose by as much as 75% in adults receiving chest scans. In the second story, another group found that angling the CT gantry could reduce dose delivered to the breasts during coronary CTA studies.
Another report covers the use of a prototype CT system with a flat-panel detector to detect changes in the bone structure of girls with anorexia nervosa ... even before declines in bone mineral density are evident with other modalities.
Finally, did you catch the controversy just before the RSNA show opened on whether coronary CTA can replace conventional angiography in assessing coronary artery disease? A New England Journal of Medicine study found that while coronary CTA had some points in its favor, the modality may not be ready for prime time ... yet. Read more by clicking here.
Get these stories and more in our CT Digital Community, available at ct.auntminnie.com.
