ABSTRACT

The constant technological improvements in CT have seen

it merge seamlessly from a research tool in cardiac imaging

to mainstream clinical utility in areas such as the assessment

of coronary artery disease. Although obviously not currently

the accepted gold standard for the assessment of the heart

valves over other imaging modalities such as echocardiogra-

phy, the increase in temporal and spatial resolution with the

current generation of 64-slice multidetector CT (MDCT)

scanners mean that excellent images can be obtained in most

patients of even these thin mobile structures. A huge wealth

of information about the heart valves is available from any

high specification cardiac MDCT scan regardless of the

original indication for the investigation. It is important that

this data is analyzed appropriately and commented upon.