Carotid artery stenosis: prospective comparison of CT, three-dimensional non-enhanced MR and digital subtraction angiography

Abstract

The aim of this study was a comparison of diagnostic efficacy of non contrast enhanced MR-angiography (MRA) and CT-angiography (CTA) with digital subtraction angiography (DSA) in patients with atherosclerotic lesions of internal carotid arteries. We examined 70 patients with stenosis of carotid arteries. A stenosis degree of more than 50% (assessed by DSA) was considered as hemodynamically significant. Besides neurological survey the examination of extracranial arteries was performed, whichincluded MRA, CTA and DSA. In each case we analysed a plane on which a degree of a stenosis was assessed as maximum. To characterize each modality we evaluated sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value. A coincidence rate for CTA and DSA was 95%, for MRA and DSA 89%. We can conclude that CTA and MRA can be use for an appropriate evaluation of stenosis of interna carotid arteries.

Keywords

• interna carotid artery stenosis
• computed tomographic angiography
• magnetic resonance angiography
• digital subtraction angiography