Individualized contrast injection keeps up with triple-rule-out CT

Sunday, November 28 | 10:55 a.m.-11:05 a.m. | SSA04-02 | Room S404CD

Outrunning the contrast bolus can be a real problem with state-of-the art CT equipment that scans the thorax in less than a second. But J. Michael Barraza and colleagues from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston found excellent results with a contrast injector equipped with an individualized patient-based contrast media injection algorithm.

The group scanned 91 patients with high-speed CT angiography (CTA) of the chest using 128-slice dual-source CT. Indications included CT pulmonary angiography (n = 34), coronary CTA (n = 19), and triple-rule-out studies (n = 38). The researchers used a dual-syringe injector (Stellant D, Medrad, Warrendale, PA) to calculate individualized triphasic contrast protocols for each patient, using target attenuation levels ranging from 200 in the right ventricle for coronary CTA to 350 in the coronaries in the aorta for triple-rule-out studies.

The studies were all of diagnostic quality and fast, with scan times ranging from 0.88 seconds for CT pulmonary angiography to 0.30 seconds for coronary CTA. Mean attenuation using the injector reached targets in all detected regions. In fact, the computerized contrast media delivery algorithm consistently reached or exceeded target attenuation levels, Barraza will report.