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Coronary CT Angiography is a non-invasive technique in detection of coronary artery disease.

Until recently, the visualization of the coronary arteries required invasive and dangerous cardiac catheterization.  Coronary CT Angiography is the the most recent advancement in diagnostic cardiology. It is a non-invasive technique which gives a three dimensional  image of the heart. It not only can determine the severity of blockages, but it also directly visualizes the atherosclerotic plaque deposited in the vessel wall.  It can identify the early stages of soft (fatty and fibrous) plaque formation even before it can be visualized on x-ray angiography images.  It also visualizes calcified plaque, which occurs in more chronic coronary artery disease.

Before the CT, an Iodine-based dye is injected into the patient intravenously. The heart rate may have to be controlled by other drugs if the heart beat is irregular. The risk involved is a hypersensitivity reaction to the dye injected. The amount of radiation received is very low with the advent of new technology.

It can be done in subjects with symptoms as well as people with risk factors like strong family history and hypercholesterolemia.

It will undoubtedly change the paradigm of cardiac imaging forever and cardiac catheterization will become a primary therapeutic procedure.  With the use of CTA and MRA this has already occurred in other vascular imaging of the body including the carotid arteries, intra-cranial vessels, torso, and extremities.