Noninvasive angio: Will CT rout
MR?
Half-second imaging of entire volume could be
reality
By Catherine
Carrington
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Although CT and MR are running neck and neck in noninvasive peripheral
angiography, MR holds the lead in noninvasive coronary studies. But it still
falls short of conventional angiography, particularly in distal and fast-moving
vessels. MR is unlikely to shake this limitation in the future, according to Dr.
Tom Brady, who directs the cardiac imaging program at Massachusetts General
Hospital.
“It’s clear to me that it will never be as good as conventional
angiography, just because of the limitations of the modality. And the same can
be said about x-ray CT angiography,” he said.
That is, unless one of the two imaging modalities makes a giant technological
leap forward—and Brady is putting his money on CT.
Multidetector technology has made cardiac CT possible and has brought limited
angiography, as well as studies of perfusion and function, within its grasp. But
according to Brady, cardiac CT will really take off when today’s multirow
detectors give way to digital plate technology and volume imaging. Once that
happens, it will be possible to image an entire volume in, say, a
half-second.
Brady has been collaborating with GE Medical Systems in testing a prototype
volume imaging system, imaging heart and vessel specimens at a resolution of 150
mm. [Fig. 1] The image quality is stunning, he said.
“It’ll knock your socks off. If volume CT comes through and
we’re imaging at a couple hundred-micron resolution in vivo, I think it
will blow MR out of the water,” he said.
