Low-dose prospective ECG-triggering dual-source CT angiography in infants and children with complex congenital heart disease: first experience

• DOI: 10.1007/s00330-010-1822-7
• Publication Date: 2010-06-07T23:50:55Z
• Authors: Zhaoping Cheng; Ximing Wang; Yanhua Duan; Lebin Wu; Dawei Wu; Baoting Chao; Cheng Liu; Zhuodong Xu; Hongxin Li; Fei Liang; Jian Xu; Jiuhong Chen
• Keywords: Neuroradiology; Ductus arteriosus; Interventional radiology

To explore the clinical value of low-dose prospective ECG-triggering dual-source CT (DSCT) angiography in infants and children with complex congenital heart disease (CHD) compared with transthoracic echocardiography (TTE).Thirty-five patients (mean age: 16 months, range: 2 months to 6 years; male 15; mean weight: 12 kg) underwent low-dose prospective ECG-triggering DSCT angiography and TTE. Surgeries were performed in 29 patients, and conventional cardiac angiography (CCA) was performed in 8 patients. The accuracy was calculated based on the surgical and/or CCA findings. The overall imaging quality was evaluated on a five-point scale.A total of 146 separate cardiovascular deformities were confirmed. DSCT missed three atrial septal defects and a patent ductus arteriosus. The accuracy of DSCT angiography and TTE was 97.3% (142/146) and 92.5% (135/146), respectively. Overall test parameters for DSCT angiography and TTE were similar (sensitivity, 97.3% vs 92.5%; specificity, 99.8% vs 99.8%). The average subjective image quality score was 4.3 ± 0.7. The mean effective dose was 0.38 ± 0.09 mSv.Prospective ECG-triggering DSCT angiography with a very low effective radiation dose allows the accurate diagnosis of anomalies in infants and children with complex CHD compared with TTE. It has great promise to become a commonly used second-line technique for complex CHD.