Benefits of routine use of coronal and sagittal reformations in multi-slice CT examination of the abdomen and pelvis☆

Aim

To evaluate the usefulness of coronal and sagittal reformations from isotropic abdomino-pelvic computed tomography (CT) examinations.

Methods

Fifty consecutive abdomino-pelvic CT examinations were reconstructed into two sets of axial source images: 0.9mm section width with 0.45mm reconstruction interval (isotropic) and 4mm section width with 3mm reconstruction interval. The isotropic dataset was reformatted into coronal and sagittal stacks with 4mm section widths. Three readers independently reviewed the three image sets with 4mm section widths. The coronal and sagittal reformations were compared with the axial images, in the same sitting, for depiction of lesions in various abdominal organs.

Results

There was better visualization of lesions in the liver, kidneys, mesentery, lumbar spine, major abdominal vessels, urinary bladder, diaphragm and hips on the coronal reformations compared with source axial images (p<0.05). Sagittal reformations scored better than axial source images for showing lesions in the liver, thoracic spine, abdominal vessels, uterus, urinary bladder, diaphragm and hips (p<0.05). The coronal and sagittal series showed significant additional information in 23 and 17% of patients, respectively.

Conclusion

Radiologists should consider the routine review of at least one additional plane to the axial series in the interpretation of abdomino-pelvic CT studies.