“Can a chest CT scan show heart problems?”
My 8 year old son may have a heart arrhythmia and will have a chest scan. I wonder if a chest CT scan can show heart problems?
4 Answers
CT is not the exam of choice. Electrocardiogram using ultrasound is a great test to evaluated the heart and uses no radiation. A Cardiologist would be the doctor to see who specializes in the heart.
Chest CT can show some cardiac abnormalities and is good at showing anomalous pulmonary venous return. It can show pulmonary AVMs. When done with an appropriate protocol coronary artery anomalies can be seen with coronary artery CTA. As a general rule, for evaluation of the heart, echocardiogram is the cheapest and best evaluation without radiation
exposure.
exposure.
Not unless it is tailored for Cardiac Imaging such as a calcium scoring or coronary CT angiogram.
Sincerely,
Clay Hinrichs, MD
Sincerely,
Clay Hinrichs, MD
no
