Recent developments in wide-detector cardiac computed tomography

Multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) using 64 detectors is widely used for cardiac imaging in the clinical setting. Despite promising results, 64-slice MDCT has important limitations for cardiac applications related to detector coverage, which leads to longer scan times, image artifacts, increased radiation and the need for higher contrast doses. The advent of wide or full cardiac coverage with 256- or 320-slice MDCT provides important advantages that can potentially improve the status of these limitations and expand the utility of cardiac MDCT imaging beyond coronary imaging. Additionally, the combination of wide-detectors and multi-energy acquisitions offer interesting possibilities of improved coverage and temporal resolution that may improve plaque characterization as well as viability and perfusion imaging. In this review we will discuss the current status of wide-detector MDCT scanners and their advantages for clinical coronary and ventricular imaging. We will also review examples of wide detector coronary angiography imaging and discuss emerging complementary non-coronary applications that have been enabled by wide-detector MDCT imaging.