cardiac ct angiography

[foghat]

couple of ?'s
i was wondering what does this test look at besides the actual  heart,   does it cover the aorta as well?  or does it differ by protocol / location?    
Do you think that I would be okay getting this test at a  smaller, private, suburban clinic,  or would i be wise to try to get it done at a major university hospital?    I am worried about the experience level at the smaller clinic on sucha  new test but  i know this clinic does it every day,  so i was wondering what you thought?

[yboby]

Hello Doctor if you read this can you please answer a quick ? for me ,  I am also about to have a 64 slice CTA and I was wondering about those dual source CT's that say they're twice as fast as the 64 slice,    are these machine more accurate?  Or is it just that they are faster and you can avoid beta blockers?    As long as my heart rate is in the 50's or low 60's with normal rhythm will I get the same exact results (for all practical purposes) as the dual source?   I am trying to decide if i need to travel to a location with a dual source machine?

[Cleveland Clinic]

It depends on who is reading it, but at our institute the cardiologists look at the heart, coronary arteries, aorta and pulmonary arteries. We also look at the venous structures such as the pulmonary veins, IVC,SVC, etc for congenital anomalies. The lungs and bones are reviewed separately by our radiologists.
I would recommend that you get your test performed at a center of excellence, which performs over 500 per year, because this is a fairly new technique and does not have a widespread level of quality control.