Fig. 1.
Demonstration of CT raw data reconstruction and aortic regurgitant orifice measurement at workstation, in 71-year-old male patient with moderate aortic regurgitation shown by transthoracic echocardiography. In this particular patient, image reconstruction was performed in 5% steps instead of 10% steps of our CT protocol.
A. Aortic valve area was chosen from CT scout image to reconstruct images of multiple cardiac phases.
B. Short-axial images of aortic valve, showing exact regurgitant orifice area produced from two orthogonal aortic longitudinal planes.
C. Resultant aortic valve short-axial images in multiple planes (5-95% in 5% steps) show almost same regurgitant areas of aortic valve during diastolic phases. Image quality is excellent during mid-diastole (65-85%).
D, E. In this case, aortic regurgitant orifice area via CT measured 0.31 cm2. Vena contracta, effective regurgitant orifice, and pressure half-time at echocardiography were 0.44 cm, 0.30 cm2, and 272 ms, respectively.