Incidental extracardiac findings at cardiac CT angiography: comparison of prevalence and clinical significance between precontrast low-dose whole thoracic scan and postcontrast retrospective ECG-gated cardiac scan

Abstract

Clinically significant extracardiac findings are common in patients undergoing CCTA with a considerable number of extracardiac findings being detected only on LDCT. We advise performing whole thorax LDCT prior to CCTA.

Clinical impact of computerised tomographic angiography performed for preoperative evaluation before coronary artery bypass grafting

“…Our incidence is similar to the results of previous studies that reported 13.1-20.4% incidence of significant extracardiac findings at cardiac CT angiography performed in non-surgical patients or after CABG [20,21]. In our series, 23% of patients needed preoperative consultation or regular postoperative followup by other specialties for incidental non-cardiovascular findings including eight cases (2.8%) of hidden malignant neoplasm.…”

The Pros and Cons of Searching for Extracardiac Findings at Cardiac CT: Studies Should Be Reconstructed in the Maximum Field of View and Adequately Reviewed to Detect Pathologic Findings

“…The remaining uncovered volume is in the upper chest, which is normally not covered during a routine cardiac CT examination. The larger FOV depicts many more benign, indeterminate, and malignant fi ndings than the restricted cardiac images ( 9,12,14,15 ).…”

ACCF/ACR/AHA/NASCI/SAIP/SCAI/SCCT 2010 Expert Consensus Document on Coronary Computed Tomographic Angiography

“…145 The coronary CT study was then reconstructed with a small field of view. In 20% of patients, an extracardiac abnormality was found on the initial thoracic scan that required additional work-up, treatment, or follow-up, while such findings were noted in 2% of patients from the contrast coronary CT study.…”