Journal «Angiology and Vascular Surgery» • 

2000 • VOLUME 6 • №2

COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY ANGIOGRAPHY IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF ATHEROSCLEROTIC LESIONS OF THE AORTA AND LOWER EXTREMITY ARTERIES

V.Ye. Sinitsyn, S.A. Dadvani, Ye.G. Artyukhina, Ye.A. Timonina, S.K. Ternovoy, S.A. Kondrashin

Computed tomography angiography (CTA) was employed to examine 40 patients with atherosclerosis of the aorta and lower extremity arteries. The mean age was 56.4 years (range 44-76 years). 54% of the patients had critical leg ischemia. CTA was performed on the Evolution scanner (Imatron, USA) in the arterial phase of injecting the nonionic contrast medium Omnipaque (Nycomed, Norway). Besides, in the first stage of the study 17 patients underwent translumbal aortoarteriography (TLA). Analysis of the angiograms has demonstrated that TLA has a sensitivity of 94% in recognition of changes in the aortoiliac segment and that its sensitivity for lesions in the femoropopliteal segment (particularly for deep femoral artery) is 78%. The quality of opacification of the femoral arteries appeared not satisfactory in 4 patients with iliac artery occlusion because of the low velocity of the collateral blood flow. The use of CTA made it possible to establish correct diagnosis in all the cases. The sensitivity of CTA coupled with duplex scanning (DS) amounted to 100%. In all the patients, the results of the study were verified by DS and intraoperative revision in 28 patients. The high diagnostic accuracy of the above modalities permitted elimination of the use of TLA in the second stage of the study and performance of reconstructive vascular operations in 19 patients based on the data supplied by noninvasive examinations. Therefore, the modern methods of diagnosis such as CTA provide objective information on the condition of lower extremity arteries and enable one to choose an optimal technique for artery reconstruction. The use of CTA reduces indications for conventional angiography.

KEY WORDS: Computed tomography angiography, atherosclerosis.

P. 37-44

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