Measurement of cardiac output from a test-bolus injection in multislice computed tomography

The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of non-invasive determination of cardiac function from test-bolus data in multislice spiral computed tomography (MSCT). In 25 patients enhancement data gathered from a standardized test-bolus injection were analyzed. The test-bolus examination was performed prior to a retrospectively ECG-gated MSCT of the heart. A time–attenuation curve was obtained in the ascending aorta at the level of the pulmonary arteries. A gamma variate fit was applied to the curve in order to exclude recirculation and get pure first-pass data. Using the known amount of iodine injected, cardiac output (CO), and stroke volume (SV) were determined from integration of the fitted contrast enhancement curve using a reformation of the Stewart-Hamilton equation. Results were compared with CO and SV calculated from the geometric analysis of the retrospectively gated MSCT data using the ARGUS Software (Siemens, Forchheim, Germany). The CO and SV determined from test-bolus analysis and from geometric analysis correlated well with Pearson's correlation coefficients of 0.87 and 0.88, respectively. The standard deviation of the difference between both methods was 0.51 l/min for CO (8.6%) and 11.0 ml for SV (12.3%). Non-invasive quantification of CO seems to be feasible from a standard test-bolus injection. It provides valuable information on cardiac function without additional radiation or application of contrast material.