Imaging manifestations of multi-slice spiral CT angiography in aortic dissection

Objective To investigate the imaging manifestations of multi-slice spiral CT angiography(CTA) in aortic dissection.Methods The clinical data of 52 patients with aortic dissection who underwent CTA in our hospital between February 2010 and August 2013 were retrospectively analyzed.256-slice spiral CT was used for the whole aortic enhancement scanning.Images of plain CT,enhanced scan and post-processed reconstruction were analyzed.The imaging manifestations of aortic dissection were studied according to DeBakey classification.Results In 52 patients,there were 21 cases of DeBakey type Ⅰ,3 of DeBakey type Ⅱ and 28 of DeBakey type Ⅲ (4 of type Ⅲ a and 24 of type Ⅲ b) aortic dissection.The CTA revealed 43 cases of typical and 9 of atypical aortic dissection.All the typical cases of aortic dissection showed inward collapse of aortic intima,true and false lumens,and the crevasses in the intima.For the atypical cases of aortic dissection,the crevasse was not visualized in 8 cases; the aortic wall was crescentic or circumferential incrassation in 7 cases; the false lumen was not filled with contrast medium during enhanced CT scan in 8 cases; and there were 2 cases of ulceration.Conclusion CTA has significant diagnostic value for typical and atypical aortic dissection. Key words: Aortic dissection;  Tomography, X-ray computed;  Diagnostic imaging