Colonography using multislice CT

Computed tomography (CT) represents the preferred imaging modality for imag ing the large bowel when Virtual endoscopic reconstructions are desired. Us ing the spiral acquisition technique, it has become possible to scan the en tire abdomen within a single breathhold, however, slice thicknesses of 5 mm or more are necessary should the breathhold not last longer than 30-40 s. With the advent of multislice CT, contiguous 1-mm slices can be obtained th rough the entire abdomen while even shortening the breathhold to 25-30 s. T he improved speed and spatial resolution of multislice CT results in remark ably sharp virtual reconstructions allowing detection of polyps with sizes less than 3 mm. The disadvantages must still be considered including a data set consisting of up to 800 images representing a new challenge for postpro cessing hard- and software. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All righ ts reserved.