Using a SOMATOM Definition from Siemens Healthcare, 120 patients with suspected coronary heart disease were scanned at the University Hospital Zürich in Switzerland. Siemens’ Adaptive Cardio Sequence application, with the step-and-shoot mode, was also used for the first time with a dual-source CT.

Results demonstrated that CT coronary angiography with a dual-source CT in step-and-shoot mode required an effective dose of 2.5 mSv on average with a deviation of plus/minus 0.8 mSv. Meanwhile, a normal average effective dose for heart scans fall between 9 mSv and 21 mSv, according to published studies.

The results of the study were published in the June issue of Heart, the official journal of the British Cardiovascular Society.

The procedure can also diagnose stenoses with as similar high accuracy as with invasive X-ray angiography, the study reported.

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