Frederick Schuster, Presenter: Nothing to Disclose

Carmen Andrea Pfortmueller, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Thorsten Klink MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Aristomenis Konstantinos Exadaktylos, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Johannes T. Heverhagen MD, PhD, Abstract Co-Author: Speaker, Bracco Group

Stefan Puig MD, MSc, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

To evaluate the feasibility of automatic cardiac function assessment and whether the assessment of cardiac function provides additional information in patients with chest pain, who were referred for Triple-Rule-Out-CT (TRO-CT) to exclude coronary stenosis, pulmonary embolism and/or aortic dissection in the emergency department.

Until now, we have included consecutive 91 patients (52 females, 39 males; mean age: 61 years, range: 17 – 85) in this retrospective study. TRO-CT-Data were analyzed using the syngo.CT-Cardiac-Function client (syngo.via VA 20; Siemens, Germany). After loading the data, the client automatically segmented right and left ventricle and calculated the global parameters ‘ejection fraction (EF), myocardial mass (MM), stroke volume (SV), end-systolic and end-diastolic volumes (ESV and EDV)’. All patients were scanned with the same ECG-triggered CT-protocol using a 128-slice scanner (Somatom Edge, Siemens, Erlangen, Germany) without any premedication.

In 78/91 (86%) examinations the client automatically segmented the right and left ventricle and calculated cardiac function parameters. The mean heart rate was 77.7 bpm (range: 47 – 125 bpm). The EF of the left and/or the right ventricle was pathologic in 61/78 (78%) patients, as was the MM of the left ventricle in 10/78 (13%), the SV of the left ventricle in 13/78 (17%), and the ESV and/or the EDV of the left ventricle in 28/78 patients (36%).

Automatic assessment of cardiac function calculated from TRO-CT data is feasible and can add medical information in patients with chest pain, which is usually obtained from additional examinations, such as echocardiography. Further studies are needed to evaluate the clinical and economic significance of this technical possibility.

Automatic cardiac function assessment provides additional information in patients who are reffered for TRO-CT in emergency settings, which usually can only be obtained from additional, time consuming examinations such as echocardiography.

Schuster, F, Pfortmueller, C, Klink, T, Exadaktylos, A, Heverhagen, J, Puig, S, Automatic Assessment of Cardiac Function from Triple-Rule-Out-CT Data in Patients with Chest Pain: Is there Additional Information for the Emergency Physician?—Preliminary Results.  Radiological Society of North America 2014 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, - ,Chicago IL. http://archive.rsna.org/2014/14014439.html