Imaging and Treatment Planning for Cardiac Radioablation

Cardiac radioablation is a new treatment for ventricular tachycardia (VT), which uses beams of radiation to treat heart scar that causes VT. To identify the scar areas, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) imaging are often used. These are both types of medical imaging that allow clinicians to examine scar area without having to do invasive surgery.

Researchers have developed new heart imaging protocols using both MRI and CT. Their MRI protocol method can now spot both dense and scattered scar tissue. The CT protocol combines multiple different types of scans into a single appointment and uses a special scanner that captures the motion of the heart. For this study, patients will undergo CT and MRI imaging according to these new imaging protocols.

With this study, researchers aim to show that these new imaging protocols can be undergone by patients with ventricular tachycardia and can be used to identify scar. Researchers will also use these scans to make radiation treatment plans to identify which types of treatment can be delivered safely to patients.