Assessment of right superior septal artery with multi-slice spiral CT / 中华放射学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the prevalence,anatomic features of right superior septal artery (RSSA) with 256-slice MSCT.Methods A retrospective analysis of coronary artery computed tomography angiography with 256-slice CT was performed in 1 646 consecutive patients.Multi-planar reconstruction (MPR),maximum intensity projection (MIP) images on coronal and sagittal planes,and three-dimensional volume rendering (VR) reconstruction images were obtained and used for the evaluation of the anatomic features of the RSSA.The images were transferred to EBW4.52 workstation to trace the vessel and to analyze the origin,diameter,and length of the RSSA.Student's t test was performed to compare the differences in the length and diameter of the RSSA between patients with different coronary artery distribution dominant types,different genders.Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the differences in the length and diameter of the RSSA among patients with and without coronary artery stenosis.Results The RSSA was present in 130 (7.9％) of 1 646 patients.The origin of RSSA was from the proximal portion of the right coronary artery in 104 patients,from the right sinus of valsalva in 26 patients.The artery co-existed with the conus artery in 22(16.9％) of 130 patients.The mean length of RSSA was (31.7±15.6) mm (range from 8.9 to 70.7 mm),and the mean diameter was (1.0±0.4) mm (range from 0.2 to 2.5 mm).The average length and diameter of RSSA in men were (33.5±15.7) and (1.0±0.4) mm,respectively; The average length and diameter of RSSA in women were (24.5 ± 13.0) and (0.9 ±0.4) mm,respectively.There was a significant difference in RSSA length between men and women (t=2.718,P=0.007),but there was no significant difference in the RSSA diameter between men and women (t=1.134,P=0.259).There was no significant differencein RSSA length and diameter between different coronary artery distribution dominant types (t=-0.219 and-0.080 respectively,P＞ 0.05).In the patients with left anterior descending artery (LAD) and right coronary artery (RCA) stenosis,the mean length and diameter of RSSA were (38.9±17.9),(1.1 ±0.4) mm,respectively.In the patients without LAD and RCA stenosis,the mean length and diameter of RSSA were (28.9±14.4),(0.9± 0.4) mm,respectively.Patients with coronary artery stenosis tended to have longer RSSAs in comparison to those without coronary artery stenosis (P＜0.05).Conclusions RSSA variantions can evaluated with a cardiac 256-slice MSCT scan.The recognition of this vessel is useful for physians dealing with diagnosis and treatment of coronary artery disease.