AJR: Prospective ECG gating cuts CCTA dose

Prospective electrocardiogram (ECG) gating allows radiologists to significantly reduce the patient radiation dose delivered during coronary CT angiography (CCTA), according to a study in the October issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.

W. Dennis Foley, MD, chief of digital imaging, professor of radiology, Medical College of Wisconsin and colleagues compared the use of retrospective ECG gating (when the radiation beam is on constantly) and prospective ECG gating (when the radiation beam is turned on only intermittently) during CCTA.

Forty patients were evaluated using retrospective gating and 40 more were evaluated using prospective gating.

"In comparison, image quality was equivalent," Foley said. "In regards to radiation dose, the dose was three times higher with retrospective gating," he said.

The radiation dose using prospective gating was approximately 14 mSv compared with 43.3 mSv using retrospective gating.

"Prospective ECG-gated CT angiography is a technically robust, noninvasive imaging technique for the evaluation of vascular disease,” Foley concluded.
Michael Bassett,

Contributor

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