Prevalence of extravascular collateral findings during 64-slice CT angiography of the abdominal aorta and lower limbs
by M. Belgrano, F. Pozzi Mucelli, A. Spadacci, R. Pizzolato, R. Zappetti, M. Cova
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Abstract
Purpose
. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of extravascular collateral findings
during 64- slice CT angiography of the abdominal aorta (AA-CTA) and lower limbs (LL-CTA).
Materials and methods
. The images of 536 AA-CTA and LL-CTA examinations performed for suspected aortic and
peripheral vascular disease in 500 patients were retrospectively reviewed. Two radiologists
evaluated the 5- mm axial images independently using appropriate window settings for the area under
investigation. Collateral findings were divided according to their clinical significance into
significant, nonsignificant and meriting further investigation.
Results
. No collateral findings were identified in 97/500 patients (19.4%). In the remaining
patients, 821 collateral findings were detected, of which 43 (5.24%) were classified as
significant, 135 (16.44%) as meriting further investigation and 643 (78.32%) as nonsignificant. The
findings indicative of the presence of a malignant lesion totalled 36 (4.5%).
Conclusions
. AA-CTA and LL-CTA demonstrate a nonnegligible prevalence of collateral findings, many of
them major. It therefore appears that the evaluation should focus not only on the image
reconstructions to identify vascular disease, but also on the native axial images to detect
incidental findings.
