CLINICAL APPLICATION OF CT AORTIC ANGIOGRAPHY

To evaluate the role of CT angiography (CTA) in demonstration of the aortic diseases, twenty-eight patients (20 male, 8 female, averaged 58 years old) with clinically suspected aortic diseases underwent CTA. CTA was performed with a helical CT scanner after injection of a bolus of contrast material, and the reconstruction images were generated by using the surface shaded display (SSD), curved multiplanar reconstruction (CMR), and maximum intensity projection (MIP). Surgical treatment was performed in 6 patients, and interventional management following conventional angiography was done in 14 patients after CTA. The CTA images were compared with those from conventional angiography. The results were as floolws: Two cases were not assessable at CTA because of inappropriate scanning phase. Among the remaining twenty-six cases, CTA clearly depicted the anatomic structures of the aortae, including aneurysm (n=14), aortic dissection (n=6), traumatic pseudoaneurysm (n=2), penetrating ulcer (n=1), and arteriosclerotic tortuosity (n=3). The results indicate that CTA could clearly depict both luminal and mural changes in the aorta and its major branches, and it is of great importance both in surgical and interventional management of the aortic diseases.