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OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this article is to review the utility of ECG-gated MDCT in evaluating postsurgical findings in aortic and mitral valves. Normal and pathologic findings after aortic and mitral valve corrective surgery are shown in correlation with the findings of the traditionally used imaging modalities echocardiography and fluoroscopy to assist in accurate noninvasive anatomic and dynamic evaluation of postsurgical valvular abnormalities. CONCLUSION. Because of its superior spatial and adequate temporal resolution, ECG-gated MDCT has emerged as a robust diagnostic tool in the evaluation and treatment of patients with postsurgical valvular abnormalities.

OBJECTIVES Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is characterized by diastolic dysfunction, which is difficult to assess by noninvasive methods. We hypothesized that measurement of simultaneous left ventricular (LV) and left atrial (LA) volume changes by cardiac computed tomography would be useful in the assessment of diastolic function in HCM. METHODS We studied 21 patients with HCM and 21 age-matched controls. The LA and LV volumes were calculated and early and late diastolic volume changes derived. RESULTS The HCM patients had significantly larger LA volumes and reduced LA total emptying fraction (30 ± 7% vs 42 ± 6%; P < 0.0001). Conduit volume was increased (30 ± 6 vs 22 ± 4 mL/m; P < 0.0001) and contributed a significantly higher proportion of total LV diastolic filling, suggesting that passive filling of the LV compensates for LA dysfunction, but at the expense of increased pulmonary filling pressure. CONCLUSIONS This study suggests that simultaneous depiction of computed tomography-derived LV and LA volume changes can characterize diastolic dysfunction in HCM.