MULTISLICE THOMOGRAPHY EVALUATION IN CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE

Conventional Coronary Angiography (CCA) is the diagnostic standard for identification and evaluation of coronary stenosis and coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) patency. Limits of this technique (invasivity, undeniable costs, risk of mortality and morbidity) and the large, worldwide, procedure number, whose only one third followed by interventional procedures, because of high percentage of uninjured coronary arteries, suggest the usefulness of a new non-invasive way to visualize the coronaric tree in patients with actual indication to CCA and Percutaneous Coronary Interventions (PCI).Multi-slice computed tomography (MSCT) is a rapidly developing technique and allows reliable evaluation of the coronary arteries and CABG in a non-invasive manner. Despite limitations due to calcium, movement, metallic parts and high radiation dose, MSCT – CA showed a good diagnostic capability in detecting significant coronary artery stenosis in patient with suspected or known significant coronary artery disease.