Crown years for non-invasive cardiovascular imaging (Part IV): 30 years of cardiac computed tomography

2013 is a remarkable year in cardiovascular medicine from a historical point of view. It can be considered a crown year for non-invasive clinical cardiovascular imaging as we can look back on 60 years of echocardiography, 40 years of nuclear cardiology, 30 years of cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging, and 30 years of cardiac computed tomography. In previous Editor’s Comments, 60 years of echocardiography, 40 years of nuclear cardiology, and 30 years of cardiovascular magnetic resonance have been described (Parts I, II, and II) [1–3]. In this Editor’s Comment (Part IV) we will briefly look back to the roots of cardiac computed tomography and its main achievements over the past 30 years.