Workflow Information
Contrast Medium
The Basics
The administration of intravenous (IV) contrast mate- rial during spiral scanning improves the tissue charac- terization and characterization of lesions, as well as the opacity of vessels. The contrast scan will yield good results only if the acquisition occurs during the optimal phase of enhancement in the region of interest. There- fore, it is essential to initiate the acquisition with the correct start delay. Since multislice spiral CT can pro- vide much faster speed and shorter acquisition time, it is even more critical to get the right timing to achieve optimal results.
40 s scan10 s scan
Longer scan time | Shorter scan time |
The dynamics of the contrast enhancement is deter- mined by:
•Patient cardiac output
•Injection rate
•Total volume of contrast medium injected
•Concentration of the contrast medium
•Type of injection –
•Patient pathology
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