cardiac scoring help

papa · Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 3:30 pm Post subject: cardiac scoring help

ok, call me newbie...
with "all the knowledge of ct" that i have ( Laughing

), i haven't done any cardiac work. i was sent to florida and trained on the 3d aspect of it, but never really the scanner part.

office manager asked if we could do cardiac scoring. no idea how to start this. i know the scanner is capable of it, there's a protocol on the scanner for it (loaded by manufacutrer - GE), but i haven't the slightest idea where to begin to scan on this stuff. i'd hate to be the one to put a patient on the scanner and just go by the protocol, and all the things i'm finding online are just protocol settings, and what it shows. i know what it shows, i know why it's performed. i just don't know how to perform it. i've never worked at a facility that does cardiac (last job had 2 4-slice scanners, and my weekend job didn't do cardiac stuff on the weekends)

any help would be appreciated.... web sites, videos, virtual person coming over here and holding my hand, etc....

papa

thanks all...
_________________
Mr. Green

papa RT(R)(CT) Mr. Green

Delusional Radiology
never meddle in the affairs of a dragon, for you are crunchy, and taste good with ketchup

CigarPete · Power User Joined: 21 May 2007 Posts: 118

papa.. perhaps you can download some images and do a few yourself? I am not sure if you have a workstation or plan to do them from the scanner itself..

Here is a site you can get some DICOM images

http://pubimage.hcuge.ch:8080/

Good luck.. let me know if there is anything else I can do

Pete

papa · Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 4:17 pm Post subject:

actually, looking for some step by step instructions....

we've got the GE VCT 64

is it just like doing a CCTA only without contrast?

how does the scoring work?

do i need to use a particular workstation?

if not, where in bloody he** is the function for calcium score?

i've always been a supporter of "i'd rather not tell you and hold your hand, you can learn more if you rescearch this yourself". i'm just running out of ideas as to where i can learn some cardiac. Embarassed

papa
_________________
Mr. Green

papa RT(R)(CT) Mr. Green

Delusional Radiology
never meddle in the affairs of a dragon, for you are crunchy, and taste good with ketchup

BZMAN · Joined: 02 Oct 2007 Posts: 7 Location: ILLINOIS

Hi, We do CaScoring on a siemans 16 slice scanner.
On this scanner there is a tab to click on to open the calcium scoring program. You first have to put the leads on the patient and get a good ekg going. Then you scout and line up your scan. On ours you can shift a box to scan in the resting phase. Once your scan is done you scroll through the images to find your coronary arteries. If you see any calcifications you label that vessel with the appropriate colored label. The color then follows the vessel in consecutive images. It also then assigns a score or value to each artery. If you dont see any calcifications then the score is zero. Hope this is of some help. Bill

We dont do them all that often so I always check on this site to make sure im labeling correctly. Im sure the Rads will let me know if im not...
http://www.ajronline.org/cgi/content/full/177/6/1437#FIG2