Lage dosis CT scan voor een hartoperatie

During heart surgery the aorta is clamped to initiate cardiopulmonary bypass. This may crush aortic calcifications causing them to embolize to the brain causing a stroke
which is a devastating complication for the patient. A chest X-ray is routinely performed prior to heart surgery. It provides no information about aortic calcification. Imaging by a chest computed tomography (CT) scan provides detailed information on aortic calcification but has higher radiation exposure and thus is not used routinely. Recently iterative reconstruction (IR) techniques have become available that allow chest CT to be performed at markedly reduced dose with retained image quality. Routine use of low dose chest CT with IR prior to heart surgery may identify patients with a severely calcified aorta in which the surgery may subsequently adapted to minimize or avoid aortic manipulation which may reduce stroke rate.

After completion of inclusion, all data will be analyzed.

Patients are randomized to 2 groups: the intervention group undergoes an ultra low-dose non-contrast enhanced chest CT with IR in addition to routine care. The control group undergoes routine care (which includes a chest X-ray).