CT Angiography of Vertebral Artery Variations

Purpose To evaluate the clinical value of multi-slice spiral CT angiography(MSCTA) in evaluating the correlation between origin variation and path variation of the vertebral artery. Materials and Methods MSCTA features of 114 patients with vertebral artery origin and(or) path variation were evaluated retrospectively, post-process techniques such as volume rendering(VR), maximum intensity projection(MIP), curve plane reformation(CPR) and advanced vessel analysis(AVA) were used to observe the vertebral artery, and the correlation between the origin variation and path variation of vertebral artery were analyzed. Results Among the 114 cases, there were 67 cases with only origin variation and 2 with only path variation of the vertebral artery, and 45 cases with both origin variation and path variation. The origin variation and path variation had statistical difference(χ2=235.67, P0.05), with odds ratio and 95% CI of 194.44 and 46.13-819.67, respectively. Conclusion The origin variation and path variation of vertebral artery are well related, with the origin variation an important influencing factor leading to path variation. MSCTA is able to demonstrate the origin variation and path variation of the vertebral artery clearly and objectively, thus has important application value in understanding the imaging features of anatomic variations of vertebral artery and directing clinical treatment protocols.