Cardiac CT—basic principles

Cardiac CT is a fast-developing technique. In 10 years it developed from an investigative tool into a clinical reality. The technology drive has been the key to success for this technique, which is to date the only non-invasive clinical tool for coronary angiographic assessment. Technical background is quite complex and the newer solutions are aiming at reducing the scan time and the radiation dose while improving temporal resolution, contrast resolution, and ultimately image quality. The key technical development has been in late 1990: the introduction of ECG triggering/gating techniques. Spatial resolution has also been improved, reaching sub-millimetre performance. The latest innovations provide fast coverage with >64 slice detectors, high spatial resolution with 0.5-mm slice thickness, high temporal resolution with