Anatomy is perhaps the simplest of medical sciences, requiring little more than some curiosity plus careful observation of things as they are. The new multislice computed tomography (MSCT) machines produce a volume data set with the highest isotropic spatial resolution ever seen. The 0.6-mm “pixel” (picture element) that CT has traditionally delivered in axial planes (x and y dimensions) is also extended to the z dimension as well. The spatial resolution of these new machines is such that they can scan a 10-mm diameter piece of heart in 20 axial sections to produce nearly 4000 pixels for each slice. In other words, these scanners are capable of digitizing the anatomy of a 70-kg human body into over half a billion individual voxels (volume elements).
Given this high spatial resolution, MSCT offers superb 3D images of the entire heart and great vessels. Relationships between cardiac structures can be shown as never before. Electronic casts and electronic dissections of the heart in any plane can show the internal and external cardiac structures.
As a result, the anatomy of the heart and great vessels can be understood easily by young doctors, medical students and nurses. This atlas has been made for them.
MSCT is unique in its ability to image coronary arteries and it is likely to become one of the most used cardiac imaging techniques. Images of coronary vessels provided by MSCT can be interpreted both from radiological and cardiological standpoints. Indeed, radiologists are often not sufficiently familiar with cardiac anatomy, whereas cardiologists often lack adequate familiarity with the axial, coronal or sagittal planes used for visualization of cardiac MSCT images. This atlas has also been made to clarify the anatomy for both specialties.
The atlas is divided into 10 chapters. In each chapter, the body planes, cardiac planes and cardiac structures, such as cardiac chambers, cardiac valves, septa, coronary arteries and coronary veins, are displayed from many perspectives to give the reader a wider vision of living cardiac anatomy.
Contents
1 Basic Principles
2 Location of the Heart: Body Planes and Axis
3 Cardiac Planes
4 The Right Heart
5 The Left Heart
6 The Cardiac Valves
7 The Cardiac Septum
8 Coronary Artery Anatomy
9 Coronary Vein Anatomy
10 Coronary Artery Bypass Grafts
Index
Given this high spatial resolution, MSCT offers superb 3D images of the entire heart and great vessels. Relationships between cardiac structures can be shown as never before. Electronic casts and electronic dissections of the heart in any plane can show the internal and external cardiac structures.
As a result, the anatomy of the heart and great vessels can be understood easily by young doctors, medical students and nurses. This atlas has been made for them.
MSCT is unique in its ability to image coronary arteries and it is likely to become one of the most used cardiac imaging techniques. Images of coronary vessels provided by MSCT can be interpreted both from radiological and cardiological standpoints. Indeed, radiologists are often not sufficiently familiar with cardiac anatomy, whereas cardiologists often lack adequate familiarity with the axial, coronal or sagittal planes used for visualization of cardiac MSCT images. This atlas has also been made to clarify the anatomy for both specialties.
The atlas is divided into 10 chapters. In each chapter, the body planes, cardiac planes and cardiac structures, such as cardiac chambers, cardiac valves, septa, coronary arteries and coronary veins, are displayed from many perspectives to give the reader a wider vision of living cardiac anatomy.
Contents
1 Basic Principles
2 Location of the Heart: Body Planes and Axis
3 Cardiac Planes
4 The Right Heart
5 The Left Heart
6 The Cardiac Valves
7 The Cardiac Septum
8 Coronary Artery Anatomy
9 Coronary Vein Anatomy
10 Coronary Artery Bypass Grafts
Index