Control study of dual-source computed tomography and ultrasound cardiography in diagnosis of complex congenital heart diseases

AIM:To evaluate the clinical value of dual-source computed tomography (DSCT) in diagnosis of complex congenital heart diseases (CCHD) using a control study with transthoracic ultrasound cardiography (UCG). METHODS: DSCT and UCG were performed in 186 patients with CCHD and their diagnosis of cardiovascular anomalies was later surgically confirmed and compared. RESULTS: In all patients, 538 cardiovascular anomalies were confirmed. Accuracy of DSCT and UCG was 94.1% and 92.4%, respectively, and diagnostic accuracy showed no statistical difference (P=0.281). Of the 209 confirmed intracardiac anomalies, DSCT detected 190 (90.9%) and UCG detected 200 (95.7%), with no statistical difference in the diagnostic accuracy rate (P=0.052). Of the 103 confirmed heart-vessel conjunction anomalies, DSCT detected 94 (91.3%) and UCG detected 91 (88.4%), also with no statistical difference in the diagnostic accuracy rate (P=0.629). Of the 226 confirmed great vessel anomalies, statistical difference was observed in the diagnostic accuracy between the 222 (98.2%) detected by DSCT and the 206(91.1%) detected by UCG (P<0.01), showing that DSCT was superior to UCG. CONCLUSION: DSCT is superior to transthoracic UCG in the diagnosis of great vessel anomalies and can be used as one of the non-invasive conventional preoperative detection methods for CCHD. Use of DSCT combined with UCG can improve the diagnostic accuracy of CCHD.