Historically, researchers using pre-clinical CT have focused on two types of resolution – spatial and contrast. However, with cardiac CT, one should also be concerned about [temporal resolution(http://clinical.netforum.healthcare.philips.com/us_en/Explore/White-Papers/CT/Considerations-in-cardiac-CT-understanding-temporal-resolution-and-rotation-speed-for-improved-cardiac-imaging). In the clinical world, many vendors have focused on rotation speed. This is fine for human heart rates, but is not practical for pre-clinical research. Instead, it is necessary to capture information from multiple cardiac cycles. With this approach, the exposure time largely influences the temporal resolution. Recently, we tested some custom software for the CT-120 that lowers the exposure time to 6.3 ms. To the best of our knowledge, this is the fastest temporal resolution of any pre-clinical CT system at Duke shows results with 10 ms temporal resolution). A single projection demonstrating acceptable spatial resolution and contrast is shown in the associated graphic.
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