Case: Coronary and aortic CTA at a 7-week old boy: DLP5

Case history
7-week-old boy with unexplained cardiomyopathy, ventricle septum defect (VSD). Dyspnoe.
Question: coronary construction? Coarctatio aortae?

Diagnosis
Coronary arteries have been constructed and clearly visible, like the VSD. Even with a very high heart rate of 153, the coronary arteries are well depicted. The scan was performed with the prospective sequential technique without the use of padding, because you are only interested in the visualization of the coronaries and the heart anatomy. There is no need for coronary analysis. Scan Trigger was placed at the T-wave to catch the least movement of the heart.
Altogether, this will give you a dose optimized scan protocol with the least possible movement at a temporal resolution of 75ms.

Protocol

Comments
The scan was performed with bolustracking technique. The reason was that the i.v. cannula was placed on the forehead, allowing the use of a manual delay is not recommended. No coarctatio aortae was shown. CT is a quick and reliable technique in visualization of the coronaries or heart anatomy. In combination with Flash technique there is no need of sedation.