Endotoxin role in cardiogenic shock: A brief report

Abstract

breath holding (12 s). Every subject was required to perform abdominal breathing. The deep-expiration is required to be as deep as possible. The intake of oxygen may help some patients who cannot perform such breath-holding due to cardiopulmonary failure. The TRO CT was performed with a dedicated biphasic injection protocol (Fig. 2). Using a 320-row CT system (Toshiba Medical Systems, Japan), a single volume prospective ECG-gated CT acquisition was performed to include from the top of the aortic arch to the lower border of the heart. The exposurewindowwas set at 70–80% of the R–R-interval. The scan parameters were 100 kV tube voltage, tube current modulation with SureExposure, and a gantry rotation time of 350 ms. Image qualities of all TRO studies were assessed independently by two readerswith5 and6 years' experience in cardiovascular radiology. A four-point scale quality score was assigned to each patient (Table 1). In all 52 patients, with deep expiration the 16 cm detector coverage was wide enough to cover TRO imaging range (mean body height: 1.70±0.10 ranging between 1.47 m and 1.86 m). Nine patients were confirmed as significant coronary artery stenosis (more than 50% diameter stenosis), 2 cases were diagnosed with acute pulmonary embolism (Fig. 3A and B), and none were diagnosed with aortic dissection or aneurysm. Mean radiation dose for the TRO CT examination was 0.90±0.24 (mean±SD) mSv ranging between 0.43 and 1.48 mSV. In conclusion, the presented TRO protocol using a 320-row CT in low to moderate body height patients resulted in diagnostic image quality with radiation dose below 1.5 mSv.