Non-Invasive Coronary Imaging

Coronary artery imaging is a demanding application for any non-invasive imaging modality. On the one hand, high temporal resolution is needed to virtually freeze the cardiac motion and to avoid motion artifacts in the images. On the other hand, sufficient spatial resolution — at best sub-millimeter — is required to adequately visualize small and complex anatomical structures such as the coronary arteries. The complete coronary artery tree has to be examined within one short breath-hold time to avoid breathing artifacts and to limit the amount of contrast agent if necessary. In 1984, electron beam computed tomography (EBCT) was introduced as a non-invasive imaging modality for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease (Boyd and Lipton 1982; Agatston et al. 1990; Achenbach et al. 1998, Becker et al. 2000a). The temporal resolution of 100 ms allowed for motion-free imaging of the cardiac anatomy in the diastolic heart phase even at higher heart rates.