Pediatric CT techniques scan hearts in a fraction of the dose

New techniques for coronary CT angiography (CTA) — particularly high-pitch scanning — are slashing radiation dose levels to provide safer scans for children without the need for sedation, according to a study presented at last week’s Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) meeting in Denver.

Among several ultralow-dose techniques used by the study team from Minneapolis Heart Institute in Minneapolis, high-pitch dual-source CTA delivered excellent image quality for a fraction of a millisievert of radiation when heart rates could be reduced sufficiently, they said.

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