Clinical value of multi-slice helical CT angiography in diagnosis of cerebral vascular diseases

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the clinical value of multi-slice helical CT angiography (MSCTA) in diagnosis of cerebral vascular diseases. Methods: 52 patients with cerebral vascular diseases were examined with GE Light Speed 4-slice and 16-slice helical CT. Pitch: 0.5–3, slice thickness: 0.625–1.25 mm, adult injection dosage: 90–100 mL, children injection dosage: 2 mL/kg, injection rate: 2.5–4.0 mL/s, delay time: 15–22 s. Intelligent track scan (Smart prep Rx) were adopted in parts of these cases. Three-dimensional cerebral vascular images were processed at ADW 3.1 and ADW 4.2 workstation. Results: MSCTA could clearly display spacious anatomic details of cerebral aneurysm, including its origin, size, neck width, and trend etc. MSCTA results of 19 cases were consistent with those of operations. The diameter of the smallest cerebral aneurysm shown in our research was about 3 mm. As a non-invasive examination, MSCTA could also be applied in post-operational evaluation of cerebral aneurysm by observing the location of silver clip and the distant vessels. Besides, MSCTA could be used to diagnose arteriovenous malformation and moyamoya disease. Of all the three-dimentional imaging methods, volume rendering (VR) is the best means to display the cerebral vascular diseases. Conclusion: As a non-invasive examination, MSCTA plays an important role in detection, pre-operational and post-operational evaluation of cerebral vascular diseases.