CT coronary angiography in the investigation of chest pain — Beyond coronary artery atherosclerosis; A pictorial review

Comparison of echocardiography and 64-slice spiral computed tomography in the diagnosis of congenital heart disease in children

The diagnosis of congenital heart disease in children has been an issue in the medical community. Timely diagnosis and treatment can provide a greater guarantee for children's healthy growth. In recent years, there have been more and more studies on the diagnosis of congenital heart disease in children. This paper compares the advantages and disadvantages of echocardiography and 64-slice spiral computed tomography (CT) in the diagnosis of congenital heart disease in children. In clinical trials, we also tested 64 patients with spiral computed tomography (SCT) and transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) detection of patients and then confirmed the accuracy of the diagnosis by the surgical methods. The two methods of detection, the rate of missed diagnosis, and the rate of misdiagnosis were counted. Through the test results and pathological diagnosis results, the diagnostic accuracy of the two methods were all above 90%, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. The sensitivity of echocardiographic in detecting intracardiac structure abnormalities was relatively high, but when the diagnosis of extracardiac structural abnormalities less than 64-slice spiral CT method, misdiagnosis of TTE was mainly due to extracardiac vascular malformations. Therefore, it is recommended to combine the two methods to improve the diagnosis of congenital heart disease in children.

CT coronary angiography findings in non-atherosclerotic coronary artery diseases

Non-atherosclerotic coronary artery diseases are being increasingly recognised as causes of acute coronary events. Invasive coronary angiography frequently fails to identify the abnormalities in the proximal course of coronary arteries and coronary wall, while computed tomography coronary angiography (CTCA) allows for acquisition of more detailed information. CTCA serves as a reliable method for evaluating patients with non-atherosclerotic coronary artery diseases. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of non-atherosclerotic abnormalities that may be demonstrated on CTCA.

Coronary computed tomographic angiography for patients with low-to-intermediate risk chest pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA) can image the coronary vasculature rapidly and detect the presence and severity of luminal stenosis accurately. However, whether CCTA based care strategy could gain more benefits than conventional strategy with functional tests for patients with low-to-intermediate risk chest pain remains unknown. In this study we performed a meta-analysis to compare the clinical efficacy of CCTA versus conventional strategy. Eight randomized controlled trials with 14749 patients were finally included in this review after database searching. Compared with conventional strategy, CCTA significantly increased the rates of invasive coronary angiography (RR 1.44; 95% CI 1.28 to 1.63) and revascularization (RR 1.94; 95% CI 1.65 to 2.29), but did not change the rates of major adverse cardiovascular events (RR 1.10; 95% CI 0.92 to 1.30), death (RR 0.95; 95% CI 0.64 to 1.40) and hospital readmission (RR 0.96; 95% CI 0.66 to 1.40). Consequently, compared with conventional strategy, CCTA seemed not to improve clinical outcomes for patients with low-to-intermediate risk chest pain.

The Thebesian valve height/coronary sinus ostium diameter ratio (H/D-Ratio) as a new indicator for specifying the morphological shape of the valve itself in multisliced computed tomography

BACKGROUND

The coronary sinus ostium (CSO) is covered by the Thebesian valve (ThebV), which has a variable shape when assessed subjectively. The ThebV is an anatomical barrier during CS cannulation, which may be complicated due to the valves' size. The types of valves are: cord, remnant, semilunar, fold, and mesh/fenestrated. The ThebV can be visible using multisliced computed tomography (MSCT), however, this method cannot show the ThebV's morphological shape, only its size.

METHODS

301 randomly selected autopsied human hearts were examined. The shape of the valve was subjectively assessed, whereas the ThebV height (H) and the CSO diameter (D) were measured. The H/D-Ratio was computed as the ThebV height divided by the CSO diameter, afterwards k-means cluster analysis was performed to estimate H/D-Ratio's range of values between valves. MSCT scans from 114 patients that underwent CSO cannulation were objectively evaluated based on similar measured parameters in accordance with received H/D-Ratio values.

RESULTS

Boundaries of ratio evaluations between remnant and semilunar, and semilunar and fold types were 0.35 and 0.65 respectively. In MSCT scans, the ThebV was recorded in 61 cases (remnant=5.3%, semilunar=24.6%, fold=16.7%, cord=0.0%, mesh/fenestrated=7.9%). Except for the remnant and cord types, the other types appear similarly as in the cadaveric and MSCT studies. There were no differences between ThebV height and the CSO diameter in cadavers and MSCT studies.

CONCLUSION

The H/D-Ratio can be useful in assessing ThebV shape as visualized in MSCT. We give threshold values for the H/D-Ratio which easily allow the ThebV shape to be determined.

Diagnosing Left Coronary Ostial Atresia: Sometimes the Old Ways Are Best

A 12-year-old boy with intermittent syncope associated with exercise. Exercise stress testing suggested myocardial ischemia and 2D echocardiography failed to confirm antegrade flow in the left main stem. Advanced imaging techniques including cardiac-gated computed tomography angiography and stress cardiac magnetic resonance imaging were falsely reassuring. Cardiac catheterization demonstrated left coronary artery ostial atresia with a good caliber left coronary system supplied by generous collaterals from the right coronary artery. The patient underwent successful coronary artery bypass grafting.

Arrhythmias in viral myocarditis and pericarditis

Acute viral myocarditis and acute pericarditis are self-limiting conditions that run a benign course and that may not involve symptoms that lead to medical assessment. However, ventricular arrhythmia is frequent in viral myocarditis. Myocarditis is thought to account for a large proportion of sudden cardiac deaths in young people without prior structural heart disease. Identification of acute myocarditis either with or without pericarditis is therefore important. However, therapeutic interventions are limited and nonspecific. Identifying those at greatest risk of a life-threatening arrhythmia is critical to reducing the mortality. This review summarizes current understanding of this challenging area in which many questions remain.