Cardiac CT scan gives clearer picture of heart disease

"A team of researchers led by Massachusetts General Hospital radiologists has developed a computed-tomography-based protocol that identifies both narrowing of coronary arteries and areas of myocardial ischemia - restricted blood flow to heart muscle tissue - giving a better indication of clinically significant coronary artery disease. "This is among the first demonstrations of the use of cardiac CT [computed tomography] to detect both coronary artery stenosis and resulting myocardial ischemia simultaneously in a single examination," says Ricardo C. Cury, MD, a cardiac imaging specialist at the MGH Heart Center and the study's principal investigator."