Imaging of the thorax with multislice spiral CT

Abstract

With multislice spiral computed tomography (MSCT), existing indications for performing CT of the chest are strengthened and new applications are emerging. The high speed of MSCT improves efficiency, image quality and patient comfort of "routine" imaging of the chest. The ability to cover large volumes with thin slices improves the evaluation of mediastinal lymph nodes and pulmonary nodules and allows for high-quality secondary reconstruction. If a comprehensive diagnosis of the mediastinal structures and the pulmonary parenchyma is desired, MSCT for the first time allows reconstruction of contiguous and high-resolution (HRCT) sections from the same set of thin-collimation raw data. This way, contiguous chest images of superior and HRCT sections of equal image quality compared to conventional CT scanning can be obtained. Vascular protocols greatly benefit from the high speed of MSCT: For imaging the thoracic aorta or pulmonary emboli (PE), the amount of contrast material can be substantially reduced. Owing to thin collimation, the detection rate of small peripheral emboli can be significantly increased. If indicated, the entire subphrenic venous system can be evaluated during the same session, without additional contrast material.