3-D CT for cardiovascular treatment planning.

The recently developed 64-slice CT scanner together with the use of 2-D and 3-D reconstructions can aid the cardiovascular surgeon and interventional radiologist in visualizing exact geometric relationships to plan and execute complex procedures via minimally invasive or standard approaches. Cardiac 64-slice CT considerably benefits from the high temporal and spatial resolution allowing the reliable depiction of small coronary segments. Similarly, abdominal vascular 64-slice CT became possible within short examination times and allowing an optimal arterial contrast bolus exploitation. We demonstrate four representative cardiac and abdominal examples using the new 64-slice CT technology which reveal the impact of the new scanner generation for cardiovascular treatment planning.