Spiral CT of the abdomen: increased diagnostic potential

Over the last 10 years, spiral CT has become the optimal method of performi ng all CT within the abdomen and pelvis. Not only has the technique improve d the quality of individual examinations, it has also opened up many new di agnostic possibilities which are currently being evaluated and compared wit h the concurrent advances in ultrasound and MRI. These new diagnostic possi bilities are discussed in this review article. So too are the economic adva ntages of the shorter data-acquisition times which also make the examinatio n much better tolerated by the patient. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland L td. All rights reserved.