Computed Tomography Imaging in Carotid Artery Stenosis

Since the advent of computed tomography (CT) equipment for clinical imaging, the development of spiral (or helical) CT with a slip ring scanner was the main step towards the evolution of CT angiography. Continuous CT spiral scanning with breathholding of the patient and simultaneous patient transport through the gantry allowed volumetric imaging of whole organs without discontinuities [29], [17]. This rapid spiral volumetric CT scanning permitted imaging of the organs optimally in the arterial or venous phase during the first pass of an intravenously injected bolus of contrast media. Soon after spiral CT scanning was introduced in 1990, several of the first reports on the clinical applications of spiral CT concentrated on CT angiography [16], [47], [68], [25]. With a singledetector spiral CT scanner (SDCT), rapid volumetric scanning increased image noise slightly and induced a minor decrease in the z-axis resolution compared to previous sequential technique, but did not decrease the diagnostic quality of the study [11].