BMC’s Yawkey building doors are now closed as an entrance as part of our ongoing efforts to enhance our campus and provide you with the best clinical care.

All patients and visitors on our main campus must enter our hospital via Shapiro, Menino, or Moakley buildings, where they will be greeted by team members at a new centralized check-in desk before continuing to the hospital. We are excited to welcome you and appreciate your patience as we improve our facilities.

Cardiac CT

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Cardiac computed tomography (Cardiac CT) is an x-ray test that physicians use to take clear and detailed pictures of the heart. Cardiac CT is used to help detect or evaluate problems such as coronary heart disease, calcium buildup, pulmonary embolism, aneurysms, and dissections. It is sometimes used in patients who obtained unclear results from a previous stress test. Cardiac CT will likely not be used as a screening test in patients with no symptoms because of long-term radiation exposure concerns and lack of proven benefit.

What can a patient expect during a cardiac CT?

A Cardiac CT is a quick, painless test. An x-ray machine will move around the patient’s body in a circular motion, taking pictures of each part of the heart. Sometimes a contrast dye is used - injected into a vein in the arm through a needle. This highlights the coronary arteries on the x-ray pictures, and is typically referred to as a coronary CT angiography (CTA).