Hypoplastic Vertebral Artery:Diagnosis of Spiral CT Angiography / 实用放射学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the diagnosis of of hypoplastic vertebral artery by spiral CT angiography(SCTA).Methods 180patients with clinical diagnosis of vertebrobasilar insufficiency were undergone spiral CT angiography. For SCTA, 80~100 ml contrastmedium (omnipaque 350 mg/100 ml) was injected into the foot vein at the rate of 3 ml/s. The delay time was selected through a time-density curve made by Smart prep. Collimation thickness was 3mm and the table speed was 4.5mm/s. Reconstruction was done with 1.5mm increments. The SCTA images were postprossed with multiplanar volume reconstructions (MPVR) and shaded surface display (SSD). Original axial images were used to measure the diameter of vertebral artery. DSA was performed for those cases with vertebral artery stenosis within one week. Results Seventy eight (21.7%) unilateral vertebral arteries were diagnosed as hypoplastic vertebral artery,the left in 24 and the right in 54,the average diameter was 1.3 mm(1.0~1.5 mm),among them,opposite artery coexisted with local calcifications in13 cases, with twist in 20 and with compression by luschka joint hyperplasia in 11. The results were corresponding to that of DSA.Conclusion Hypoplastic vertebral artery is one of the popular reasons of vertebrobasilar artery insufficiency , it could be diagnosed by SCTA and should be used generally in clinic to substitute the more invasive DSA inspection.