In vitro coronary artery imaging with sixteen-slice helical computed tomography.

To determine the benefits of submillimeter coronary computed tomography (CT) angiography in vitro.The coronary arteries of three domestic pigs were filled with contrast agent and depicted with clinically applicable CT angiography protocols with a slice thickness of 0.63 to 2.5 mm.With 2.5 mm slices, only the third-degree coronary artery branches could be discerned. With 1.25 mm slices, some fourth-degree branches of the right coronary artery could be discerned upon maximum intensity projections. With 0.63mm slices, fourth-degree coronary artery branches could be discerned in all locations.The introduction of 16-row detector CT with submillimeter z-axis resolution translates into an order-of-magnitude benefit for the depiction of coronary artery branches.