Heart Vision CT

You have been referred to Heart Vision for a Coronary CT scan by your GP, specialist, or other medical practitioner. Heart Vision has one of the most advanced CT scanners currently available and allows us to look at coronary arteries in more detail.

 

Benefits of CT coronary scanning

• CT coronary scanning is less invasive than coronary angiograms
• The procedure is straightforward and usually completed in less than two hours
• Coronary CT scanning provides high detailed analysis

 

Before Your Appointment

• Please do not have any alcohol or caffeine for 4 hours before your appointment (note that this includes coffee, cola, tea, chocolate and drinks with added caffeine). Apart from this you may eat and drink normally
• Do not take any erection medications (Cialis, Viagra or Levitra) in the 72 hours prior to your appointment. Please take all other medications as per usual.
• Please do not smoke for 2 hours before your appointment.
• If you are asthmatic, please bring your inhalers along to your appointment.
• Please do not exercise before you come in on the day of your appointment - this may affect your heart rate.

 

During Your Appointment

• When you have been checked in at reception you will be escorted to the CT Scanning suite where you will be asked to change into a gown. 
• You will be asked to complete a consent form for the Intra Venous (IV) Contrast Injection.
• You will then be brought through to a preparation room or directly into the scan room by the radiographer
• The radiographer will discuss the consent form you have filled in and explain the procedure in more detail.  This is an opportunity for you to ask any questions you may have of the procedure. 
• We then ask you to lie down while we attach ECG leads to your chest - it may take a few minutes for the scanner to synchronise with your heartbeat. 
• An IV line is attached to your arm ready for the contrast injection later in the procedure and we will practice breathing exercises during this time.
• We will do some planning scans and a scan of your Coronary Arteries without the contrast to assess any calcium that may be present.
• We will then give you a puff of GTN (Nitrolingual spray) under the tongue to relax the coronary arteries and perform a test injection of a small amount of the contrast to time how long it takes to reach your coronary arteries. This will also allow you to experience the contrast sensations prior to the main scan. You will feel a warm sensation and a metallic smell or taste as the contrast flows throughout your body, which is normal. The scan will then be performed which takes about 10-12 seconds and we will ask you to hold your breath during the scan.
• At any time, we may find that the heart rate is not in the range we would ideally like and we may give you a beta-blocker (small tablets) to settle your heart rate. We then wait approximately 60 minutes for the heart rate to settle.
• Whilst you are on the scan table, we will check the images to make sure that we have captured all of the information we need.
• After the scan is completed, we will the escort you back to a change cubicle and ask you to wait for up to 10 minutes before we take the IV cannula out.

 

After Your Appointment