ABSTRACT. The aim of this study was to compare the measurement of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and regional wall motion using 64-slice multidetector CT (MDCT) with that using two-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography (2D-TTE) in a heterogeneous patient population. In 126 patients with angina pectoris, acute myocardial infarction, chronic myocardial infarction, atypical chest pain without coronary artery disease or valvular heart disease, 64-slice MDCT was performed using retrospective electrocardiography gating without dose modulation. 20 phases of the cardiac cycle were analysed to identify the end-diastolic and end-systolic phases and to assess regional LV wall motion. For these measurements, 2D-TTE served as the reference standard. MDCT and 2D-TTE were performed within 10 days of each other. An excellent correlation between MDCT and 2D-TTE was shown for the evaluation of LVEF (59.2¡11% vs 57.9¡10%, respectively; r50.87). LVEF was slightly overestimated by MDCT, when compared with 2D-TTE, by an average of 1.4¡5.6%. Good agreement was obtained between the use of the two techniques, with 94% of the segments scored identically on both modalities (k50.70). MDCT had a sensitivity of 97% and a specificity of 82% when compared with 2D-TTE as the reference standard. In conclusion, the use of 64-slice MDCT can provide comparable results to those using 2D-TTE for LVEF and regional wall motion assessment in a heterogeneous population.

We report a case of a posterior mediastinal dumbbell ganglioneuroma with fatty replacement on CT and MRI. Most dumbbell tumours are neurogenic in origin. Fatty replacement of non-lipomatous malignancies is rare. This report suggests that a ganglioneuroma with fatty replacement should be added to the differential diagnosis of fat-containing posterior mediastinal tumours.

Acute aortic regurgitation is frequently recognised in patients with Stanford Type A aortic dissection. However, diastolic prolapse of the aortic intimal flap into the left ventricle can cause aortic regurgitation in rare cases. Here is presented an image report of severe aortic regurgitation that was secondary to the back-and-forth intimal flap movement of acute Type A aortic dissection by the use of transthoracic echocardiography and multidetector row CT.