What does a cardiac CT detect and evaluate?
Cardiac CT is a common test for finding and evaluating: 1) Problems in the heart. Iodine-based dye used with a cardiac CT scan can show pictures of the coronary arteries. The coronary arteries are blood vessels on the surface of the heart. If these blood vessels are narrowed or blocked, you may have chest pain or a heart attack. The CT scan also can find problems with heart function and heart valves. 2) Problems with the aorta. The aorta is the main artery that carries oxygen-rich blood from the heart to the body. Cardiac CT can detect two serious problems in the aorta: 3) Aneurysm which are diseased areas of a weak blood vessel wall that bulge out. Aneurysms can be life threatening because they can burst. Dissections, which can occur when the layers of the aortic artery wall peel away from each other. This condition can cause pain and also may be life threatening. 4) Blood clots in the lungs. A cardiac CT scan also may be used to find a pulmonary embolism, a serious but treatable cond
