Patent ID: 8483799

Claim:
A method for computed tomography illustration of a movement of a heart in a cardiac cycle with the aid of a spiral CT, the method comprising: providing a continuous infusion of a contrast medium to a patient using an electronically controllable apparatus; performing a stationary pre scan of a cardiac artery to determine a sufficient filling of the cardiac artery with the contrast medium, the sufficient filling being a minimum concentration of contrast medium in the cardiac artery such that the stationary prescan produces an illustration of the cardiac artery; measuring a current heart rate of the heart being examined immediately upon determining the sufficient filling of the cardiac artery with the contrast medium; determining a maximum possible feed rate for a spiral scan based on the current heart rate measured immediately upon determining that the cardiac artery has the sufficient filling of contrast medium that produces the illustration, the feed rate being a speed of a couch associated with the spiral CT; determining a duration of the spiral scan based upon the measured current heart rate; and subsequently performing the spiral scan over the heart region using the maximum possible feed rate such that at a start time of the spiral scan the cardiac artery has the sufficient filling of contrast medium; stopping the contrast medium administration before the end of the spiral scan such that the spiral scan continues after administration of the contrast medium to the patient ceases.