Development of rotational digital angiography system - clinical value in acute pulmonary thromboembolism

A rotational digital angiography system was newly developed by authors. Dur ing the rotation, a pulse exposure is done at every 1.25 degrees by compute r control, so that 288 different projectional images can be acquired follow ing a single injection of contrast medium. Because rotational image data ca n be easily reconstructed to 3-D images, more useful diagnostic information s are obtained. Rotational digital angiography was performed for 15 patient s with acute pulmonary thromboembolism, and massive thromboemboli were reve aled in all patients. The diagnostic usefulness of this new system has also proven to be improved in the interventional procedures. At the appropriate angle, the thrombosed vessels were clearly distinguished. Thus, as the tip of the catheter was advanced to the target site, the thrombosed lesion cou ld be exclusively treated by interventional techniques. The device has, the refore, been found to be of great value in the diagnosis and intervention o f acute pulmonary thromboembolism. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. A ll rights reserved.