Dual-Energy Computed Tomography-Enabled Material Separation in Diagnosing Left Atrial Appendage Thrombus.

Dual-Energy Computed Tomography-Enabled Material Separation in Diagnosing Left Atrial Appendage Thrombus. Tex Heart Inst J. 2019 Apr;46(2):107-114 Authors: He YQ, Liu L, Zhang MC, Zeng H, Yang P Abstract We explored the potential clinical value of material separation enabled by dual-energy spectral computed tomography in detecting left atrial appendage thrombi. The study enrolled 24 patients who were scheduled to undergo atrial fibrillation ablation (12 with and 12 without left atrial appendage thrombi). Computed tomograms were acquired in gemstone spectral imaging mode; the densities in the regions of the left atrial appendage cavities, pectinate muscles, and left atrial appendage thrombi were analyzed on monochromatic 70-keV images. Iodine and blood were chosen as the material basis pair; the iodine and blood densities were observed and quantitatively determined from the iodine- and blood-specific material decomposition images. On the 70-keV monochromatic and iodine-specific images, the left atrial appendage pectinate muscles and thrombi appeared as areas of hypodense attenuation. On the blood-specific images, similar areas of high attenuation were observed in the thrombi and cavities, whereas lower attenuation was noticed in the pectinate muscles. The quantitative iodine and blood densities in the pectinate muscles were lower than those in the cavities (P <0.001). The iodine densities in the thrombi were lower than those in the...
Source: Texas Heart Institute Journal - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: Tex Heart Inst J Source Type: research