Abstract:

Objective   To determine the value of dual-source spiral CT (DSCT) in the diagnosis of congenital heart disease in children. Methods    DSCT angiographic data of 38 patients（29 males and 9 female； age range， 37 days-11 years， and mean age, 2.1 years） with congenital heart disease were retrospectively analyzed， including 14 cases of coarctation of the aorta， 9 cases of tetralogy of Fallot， 3 cases of anomalous pulmonary venous connection， 3 cases of double outlet of right ventricle， 2 cases of patent ductus arteriosus and 1 each case of pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defect, anomalous origin of pulmonary artery with patent ductus arteriosus, ventricular septal defect with anomalousaortic arch, pulmonary stenosis with atrial septal defect, dextrocardia, single ventricle and congenital malformations of coronary arteries. Transthoracic echocardiograms (TTE) were performed in all of the patients  and 32 underwent surgical operation. The results of DSCT were compared with those of TTE and surgery. Results    In the process of CT scanning no adverse reaction to the contrast agent occurred. Among the 38 patients DSCT revealed 121 anomalies in all the 140 ones and TTE 127．Surgery was effective with no deaths．In the 32 patients there were 128 deformities confirmed by surgery．The diagnosis accuracies of DSCT and TTE were 85.94％ and 89.84％ respectively．There were 57 intracardiac deformities 40(70.18％) detected by DSCT and 57 (100％) by TTE. The diagnosis accuracy of DSCT was inferior to that of TTE(P<0.05)． There were 20 heart-vessel conjunction deformities any of which was detected by DSCT and TTE． There were 51 great vessel deformities 50(98.04％) detected by DSCT and 38(74.51％) by TTE. The diagnosis accuracy of DSCT was superior to that of TTE(P<0.05)．  Conclusion    DSCT can clearly reveal the pathological morphology of extracardiac vascular abnormalities  primely compensating for the shortage of TTE. Therefore DSCT has an important value in the diagnosis of congenital heart disease especially in that combined with extracardial vascular anomalies．

Key words: Congenital heart disease； Extracardiac vascular abnormalities； Tomography X-ray computed； Echocardiography