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Workflow Optimization

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CT of the Heart

Part of the book series: Contemporary Medical Imaging ((CMI))

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Abstract

In this chapter key workflow elements that are crucial for a successful cardiac CT examination were described. Ignoring any of them can easily result in a suboptimal or even non-diagnostic exam. Since the described workflow is quite complex, a dedicated cardiac CT training of the technologists is highly desirable. Keeping in mind that cardiac CT technology is quickly evolving, such training should occur on a regular basis. Clinical practices with well-trained dedicated cardiac CT technologists perform exceptionally well. For example, a recent publication from one of such practices reports only one non-diagnostic CCTA in 1022 consecutive examinations (Ghoshhajra et al., Eur Radiol. 27:2784–2793, 2017). This example clearly proves that cardiac CT can (and should) be successfully performed when all the key workflow instructions are followed. This chapter at hand only focused on two major aspects of the cardiac CT workflow: patient preparation and selection of the most appropriate acquisition mode. Other important aspects such as use of beta-blockers, contrast injection, dealing with difficult-to-image patients (e.g., morbidly obese or with poor renal function), and cardiac CT post-processing were deliberately omitted here because they are described in other chapters of this book.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computed Tomography, Siemens Healthcare GmbH, Forchheim, Germany

    Thomas Allmendinger

  2. Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Siemens Healthineers, Malvern, PA, USA

    Andrew N. Primak

  3. Department of Collaborations, Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc., Malvern, PA, USA

    Christian D. Eusemann

Authors
  1. Thomas Allmendinger
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  2. Andrew N. Primak
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  3. Christian D. Eusemann
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thomas Allmendinger .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Center for Advanced Imaging Research (CAIR), Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA

    U. Joseph Schoepf

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© 2019 Humana Press

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Allmendinger, T., Primak, A.N., Eusemann, C.D. (2019). Workflow Optimization. In: Schoepf, U. (eds) CT of the Heart. Contemporary Medical Imaging. Humana, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60327-237-7_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60327-237-7_14

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  • Publisher Name: Humana, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-60327-236-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-60327-237-7

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