Heart Scanner Stirs New Hope and a Debate

November 18, 2004 | Source: New York Times

Multidetector CT scans, a new way to diagnose heart disease that takes only seconds and provides pictures so clear they show every clogged artery, may revolutionize cardiology.

At a cost of about $700, it can largely replace invasive, $4,000 diagnostic angiograms. In a CT scan, X-rays pass through the heart and are picked up by detectors that send information to a computer that constructs an image. The new multidetector CT scan technology uses as many as 64 detectors for greater resolution.

However, the scans cannot penetrate extensive areas of old, calcified plaque, they do not work well when patients are obese or have abnormal heart rhythms, and they use high doses of radiation.