Program Overview

Cardiac Computed Tomography (CT) Program

The Johns Hopkins Cardiac CT Program provides noninvasive detailed x-ray scans of the heart to detect cardiovascular disease and its overall function. Our cardiologists use the latest technologies for precise diagnostic imaging.

Advanced CT Imaging of the Heart

The program offers advanced CT imaging of the heart, including cardiac CT scans with or without the use of intravenous contrast application. Most applications, however, require the use of contrast.

How Can a Cardiac CT Diagnose Heart Conditions?

Cardiac CT evaluates the structure of the heart but it also can evaluate its function. Most heart diseases can be detected by a cardiac CT, like coronary artery disease, which the test can detect plaque in the coronary arteries and how it impacts the heart muscle.

Clinical Services and Technology

All scans are read by both a cardiologist (reading the findings on the heart) and a radiologist (reporting findings outside the heart). Your cardiologist may provide recommendations for further testing or treatment depending on your imaging results.

Research

Our Cardiac CT program in Cardiology has a very active research program, which includes clinical studies, basic-science investigations, and in-vitro experiments. Our program was centrally involved in many of the validation studies for cardiac CT and CT myocardial perfusion imaging.

Current Clinical Investigations

• Ultra-high-resolution CT vs. invasive angiography for detecting hemodynamically significant coronary artery diseasethe CORE PRECISION PILOT STUDY
  • Principal investigator: Armin Arbab-Zadeh, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D.
  • Enrollment status: Active. Patients referred for cardiac catheterization are being recruited.
• Comprehensive Cardiopulmonary Imaging in Patients Recovered from COVID-19 Infection
  • Principal investigator: Joao Lima, M.B.A., M.D.
  • Enrollment status: Active. Patients who recovered from Covid are being recruited.
• Ultra-high-resolution CT vs. conventional CT for detecting coronary artery diseasethe CORE COMPARE PILOT STUDY
  • Principal investigators: Armin Arbab-Zadeh, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D. and Joao Lima, M.B.A., M.D.
  • Enrollment status: Active. Patients with stable chest pain are being recruited.
• Ultra-high-resolution CT for Personalized Computational Models of Ventricular Tachycardia
  • Principal investigators: Jonathan Chrispin, M.D.
  • Enrollment status: Active. Patients with ventricular tachycardia undergoing ablation are being recruited.

Education

Our program has been on the forefront of national and international education since 2006. We offer one of the longest, continuously running credentialing courses for cardiac CT training. This intensive practicum is over 1 week and is followed by home assignments and testing. This program provides requirements for level I and II credentialing according to the recommendations by the Society of Cardiovascular CT, Certification Boards of Cardiovascular CT and Core Cardiovascular Training Statements. The practicum is online and is available usually at least once every month except for the summer break.

Locations for Care

• The Johns Hopkins Hospital: 1800 Orleans St, Baltimore, MD 21287
• Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center: 4940 Eastern Ave, Baltimore, MD 21224

Highlighted Research

• Miller JM, Rochitte C, Dewey M, Arbab-Zadeh A, Niinuma H, Gottlieb I, Paul N, Clouse M, Shapiro E, Hoe J, Lardo AC, Bush D, de Roos A, Cox C, Brinker J, Lima JAC. Coronary artery evaluation using 64-row multidetector computed tomography angiography (CORE-64): results of a multicenter, international trial to assess diagnostic accuracy compared with conventional coronary angiography. NEJM. 2008;359:
• Hecht JH, Blaha MJ, Kazerooni EA, Cury RC, Budoff M, Leipsic J, Shaw L. CAC-DRS; Coronary Artery Calcium Data and Reporting System. An expert document of the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT). J Cardiovasc Comput Tomogr 2018;12:185-191.
• Latina J, Shabani M, Kapoor K, Whelton SP, Trost JC, Sesso J, Demehri S, Mahesh M, Lima JAC, Arbab-Zadeh A. Ultra-high-resolution CT coronary angiography for assessment of patients with severe coronary artery calcification: Initial Experience. Radiol Cardiovasc Imag 2021; in press.