Cardiac imaging

In addition, another disadvantageous outcome of catheter angiography is that it is a series of two-dimensional (2D) projection images obtained at almost a fixed viewing angle; thus, it is not the best approach to imaging a complex threedimensional (3D) or four-dimensional (4D) object such as the heart. And, until recently, the use of computed tomography (CT) to obtain cross-sectional images of the heart and coronary arteries was not a practical solution because, as is discussed later, the combination of the CT scanner’s slow rotation speed and long acquisition times as well as the changing shape of the heart during the scan due to the heart’s beating resulted in severe motion artifacts in CT images.