Training Collections
Library Memberships
On-demand course library with video lectures, expert case reviews, and more
Fellowship Certificate™ Programs
Practice-focused training programs designed to help you gain experience in a specific subspecialty area.
Ultimate Learning Pass
Unlock access to our full Course Library and all self-paced Fellowships.
Continuing Medical Education (State CME)
Complete all of your state CME requirements in one convenient place.
Noon Conference (Free)
Get access to free live lectures, every week, from top radiologists.
Case of the Week (Free)
Get a free weekly case delivered right to your inbox.
Case Crunch: Rapid Case Review (Free)
Register for free live board reviews.
Dr. Resnick's MSK Conference
Learn directly from the MSK Master himself.
Lower Extremities MRI Conference
Musculoskeletal Imaging
PET Imaging
Pediatric Imaging
For Training Programs
Supplement your training program with case-based learning for residents, registrars, fellows, and more.
For Private Practices
Upskill in high growth, advanced imaging areas.
Compliance
NewTrack, fulfill, and report on all your radiologists' credentialing and licensing requirements.
Emergency Call Prep
Prepare trainees to be on call for the emergency department with this specialized training series.
Training Collections
Library Memberships
On-demand course library with video lectures, expert case reviews, and more
Fellowship Certificate™ Programs
Practice-focused training programs designed to help you gain experience in a specific subspecialty area.
Ultimate Learning Pass
Unlock access to our full Course Library and all self-paced Fellowships.
Continuing Medical Education (State CME)
Complete all of your state CME requirements in one convenient place.
Noon Conference (Free)
Get access to free live lectures, every week, from top radiologists.
Case of the Week (Free)
Get a free weekly case delivered right to your inbox.
Case Crunch: Rapid Case Review (Free)
Register for free live board reviews.
Dr. Resnick's MSK Conference
Learn directly from the MSK Master himself.
Lower Extremities MRI Conference
Musculoskeletal Imaging
PET Imaging
Pediatric Imaging
For Training Programs
Supplement your training program with case-based learning for residents, registrars, fellows, and more.
For Private Practices
Upskill in high growth, advanced imaging areas.
Compliance
NewTrack, fulfill, and report on all your radiologists' credentialing and licensing requirements.
Emergency Call Prep
Prepare trainees to be on call for the emergency department with this specialized training series.
1 topic, 1 min.
4 topics, 17 min.
4 topics, 18 min.
2 topics, 6 min.
3 topics, 17 min.
4 topics, 25 min.
Optimal Use of Ambra to Review Coronary CT Cases in this Course
7 m.Approach to Reading Coronary CT in Patients with Known CAD: Assessing Image Quality
7 m.Approach to Reading Coronary CT in Patients with Known CAD: Evaluating Coronary Arteries
10 m.Approach to Reading Coronary CT in Patients with Known CAD: Additional Testing
4 m.17 topics, 1 hr. 38 min.
Moderate Stenosis
8 m.Severe Stenosis, Single Vessel
7 m.Severe Stenosis, Complex Disease With CT-FFR Discrepancy
8 m.Severe Stenosis, Complex Disease (Obtuse Marginal Branch)
9 m.Moderate Stenosis in the Mid-LAD
4 m.Native Coronary Aneurysm
3 m.Stent Occlusion
8 m.Total Occlusion
9 m.Total Occlusion, Complex Disease
7 m.Severe Stenosis With Serial Lesions, Known MI, High-risk Patient
8 m.Severe Stenosis With Serial Lesions, Emergency Chest Pain
7 m.Moderate Stenosis With Serial Lesions
5 m.Role of CT FFR in Translesional Gradient Evaluation, Low-risk Patient in Mid-40s
6 m.Role of CT FFR in Translesional Gradient Evaluation, Setting of a Stent
4 m.CT FFR Limitation: Small Vessel Caliber
4 m.CT FFR Limitation: Motion Artifact (Case 1)
6 m.CT FFR Limitation: Motion Artifact (Case 2)
3 m.6 topics, 37 min.
5 topics, 15 min.
7 topics, 17 min.
6 topics, 33 min.
1 topic, 2 min.
0:01
This next case is a younger patient
0:04
and while they were admitted to the hospital,
0:06
a CT angiogram was performed, which led to an MRI
0:10
and I think it's a nice opportunity
0:12
to look at the myocardium.
0:14
Um, so as you can see, there's a prior bypass surgery.
0:17
We haven't, at least on this view,
0:19
I haven't shown you everything,
0:20
but Lima, you have an LED, you have a lot
0:23
of disease in the RCA, which may be occluded,
0:25
and then you have, um, some circumflex disease
0:28
and probably a stenosis.
0:31
Um, but most importantly when you look at the myocardium,
0:35
and we have limited cardiac cycle phases,
0:37
but we have enough, um, you can see
0:39
that there's some thinning of the inferior wall.
0:41
So let's just switch from the arteries to the myocardium
0:45
and take a look at these.
0:47
And what you're gonna see here is that,
0:49
and I just, I think I have like a six phases here.
0:52
So not even a complete cardiac cycle, uh,
0:54
but when you page through these inin mode, you can see
0:57
that the rest of the heart, at least in the phases
0:59
provided, is moving a little bit.
1:01
And the inferior wall is not contracting much.
1:04
You can also see when you look at the wall thicknesses,
1:07
let's maybe bump this up to around eight millimeters, uh,
1:10
and stop the cine.
1:11
The myocardium doesn't thicken as much,
1:15
but it's also not calcified.
1:17
Uh, there's no interventricular thrombus.
1:19
Um, so just some mild thinning.
1:22
And the reason I wanted to bring this up is
1:24
that the contrast resolution of CT is inferior
1:27
to that of an MRI.
1:28
So it's about 25 to one CNR
1:31
for a late galium enhancement Mr Image.
1:33
It's about five to one at best for a ct.
1:36
And what you're seeing here on this delayed phase, uh, image
1:39
of the, uh, cardiac MR that was performed subsequently,
1:43
you can see there's a sub endocardial about 50%
1:46
wall thickness scar.
1:47
Um, so while there's hypokinesis, there's still some, uh,
1:50
myocardium left and you can see that it's much easier to see
1:53
that late enhancement on a late phase when an MRI,
1:56
where the normal myocardium is nulled,
1:58
but still a noisy image,
2:00
but much better contrast to noise ratio.
2:02
So if you're gonna look at myocardium on a ct,
2:04
just know it's a little bit limited.
2:06
And so you're gonna focus on what you know for sure,
2:07
which is thinning in wall motion.
2:10
And in this case,
2:11
we didn't even attempt to do delayed image.
2:13
We probably didn't know at the time of acquisition.
2:15
But if you did and you did a delayed image,
2:17
you'd want to give enough contrast.
2:18
Wait long enough to get a nice announcement.
Interactive Transcript
0:01
This next case is a younger patient
0:04
and while they were admitted to the hospital,
0:06
a CT angiogram was performed, which led to an MRI
0:10
and I think it's a nice opportunity
0:12
to look at the myocardium.
0:14
Um, so as you can see, there's a prior bypass surgery.
0:17
We haven't, at least on this view,
0:19
I haven't shown you everything,
0:20
but Lima, you have an LED, you have a lot
0:23
of disease in the RCA, which may be occluded,
0:25
and then you have, um, some circumflex disease
0:28
and probably a stenosis.
0:31
Um, but most importantly when you look at the myocardium,
0:35
and we have limited cardiac cycle phases,
0:37
but we have enough, um, you can see
0:39
that there's some thinning of the inferior wall.
0:41
So let's just switch from the arteries to the myocardium
0:45
and take a look at these.
0:47
And what you're gonna see here is that,
0:49
and I just, I think I have like a six phases here.
0:52
So not even a complete cardiac cycle, uh,
0:54
but when you page through these inin mode, you can see
0:57
that the rest of the heart, at least in the phases
0:59
provided, is moving a little bit.
1:01
And the inferior wall is not contracting much.
1:04
You can also see when you look at the wall thicknesses,
1:07
let's maybe bump this up to around eight millimeters, uh,
1:10
and stop the cine.
1:11
The myocardium doesn't thicken as much,
1:15
but it's also not calcified.
1:17
Uh, there's no interventricular thrombus.
1:19
Um, so just some mild thinning.
1:22
And the reason I wanted to bring this up is
1:24
that the contrast resolution of CT is inferior
1:27
to that of an MRI.
1:28
So it's about 25 to one CNR
1:31
for a late galium enhancement Mr Image.
1:33
It's about five to one at best for a ct.
1:36
And what you're seeing here on this delayed phase, uh, image
1:39
of the, uh, cardiac MR that was performed subsequently,
1:43
you can see there's a sub endocardial about 50%
1:46
wall thickness scar.
1:47
Um, so while there's hypokinesis, there's still some, uh,
1:50
myocardium left and you can see that it's much easier to see
1:53
that late enhancement on a late phase when an MRI,
1:56
where the normal myocardium is nulled,
1:58
but still a noisy image,
2:00
but much better contrast to noise ratio.
2:02
So if you're gonna look at myocardium on a ct,
2:04
just know it's a little bit limited.
2:06
And so you're gonna focus on what you know for sure,
2:07
which is thinning in wall motion.
2:10
And in this case,
2:11
we didn't even attempt to do delayed image.
2:13
We probably didn't know at the time of acquisition.
2:15
But if you did and you did a delayed image,
2:17
you'd want to give enough contrast.
2:18
Wait long enough to get a nice announcement.
Report
Faculty
Brian Ghoshhajra, MD, MBA, MSCCT
Academic Chief, Cardiovascular Imaging and Associate Chair, Operations Analytics
Massachusetts General Hospital / Harvard Medical School
Tags
Vascular
Myocardium
Coronary arteries
Cardiac Chambers
Cardiac CT (SCCT Cat B1 Video Case)
Cardiac
CTA
CT
Angiography
© 2026 Medality. All Rights Reserved.