Friday, December 3 | 10:30 a.m.-10:40 a.m. | SST03-01 | Room S502AB
High-pitch cardiac CT is becoming an important new method of scanning the thorax quickly and at very low doses. A group from Medical University of Vienna tried it on a 128-slice dual-source CT (DSCT) scanner and came up with excellent results versus other scanning methods.Gudrun Feuchtner, MD, and her team used a high-pitch coronary CT angiography protocol to scan 115 patients, most presenting with chest pain. Depending on heart rate and sinus rhythm status, patients were divided into groups using high-pitch Flash mode (< 60 bpm), prospective electrocardiogram triggering (< 80 bpm), or retrospective triggering (> 80 bpm or arrhythmia).
The results showed just one nondiagnostic coronary artery in high-pitch mode due to raised heart rate and arrhythmia. The mean dose for high-pitch mode was 1.07 mSv, compared to 4.2 mSv for the prospectively triggered scans and 11.1 mSv for retrospective exams. High-pitch scanning also cut the contrast volume to 66 mL, Feuchtner said.
![Axial images from unenhanced calcium score cardiac CT (left) and curved planar reformation images from CT angiography (right) show that higher long-term exposure to air pollution is associated with greater coronary artery calcium and more obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD). Top row: Images in a 68-year-old male patient with higher 10-year mean ambient air pollution exposure (7.9 μg/m3 for particulate matter measuring ≤2.5 μm in diameter [PM2.5] and 17.4 parts per billion [ppb] for NO2) with extensive CAD (coronary artery calcium score [CACS] >1,000 and obstructive CAD [≥70% diameter stenosis]). Bottom row: Images in a 57-year-old female patient with lower 10-year mean ambient air pollution exposure (6.3 μg/m3 for PM2.5 and 4.6 ppb for NO2) with no CAD (CACS = 0 and no obstructive stenosis).](https://img.auntminnie.com/mindful/smg/workspaces/default/uploads/2026/06/hanneman.r6SMLzkezo.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&dpr=2&fit=crop&h=167&q=70&w=250)
