Despite the fact that we concentrate on the “fundamentals” in this book, the fundamentals keep changing along with advances in CT techniques and our improved understanding of various diseases. This new edition gives us the chance to update important topics and add new material, including a number of new, high-quality images. That is what we have attempted to do, without significantly increasing the size of the book or making it less accessible as a teaching tool.
The half-dozen or so years since the third edition was published have seen continued advances in helical CT techniques. In this edition, we review the various spiral/helical CT protocols currently used in clinical practice for the diagnosis of chest, abdominal, and musculoskeletal abnormalities. We have expanded discussions of high-resolution CT, lung nodule assessment and lung cancer screening, CT pulmonary embolism diagnosis, CT enterography, CT enteroclysis, CT colonography, and optimizing CT techniques in musculoskeletal diagnosis.
New topics, discussions of new diseases (too numerous to mention here), and new images have been added to all chapters, including updated descriptions and illustrations of normal anatomy and incidental findings. Disease classifications, including those for pulmonary adenocarcinoma, diffuse lung diseases, and pancreatic lesions, have been updated where appropriate.
We hope you enjoy and profit from our efforts.
W. Richard Webb
William E. Brant
Nancy M. Major