Demonstration of the right inferior phrenic artery by using multislice helical CT / 中华放射学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To demonstrate the origin of the right inferior phrenic artery(RIPA) in normal and hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) patients and provide valuable anatomical information for angiographers before and after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization(TACE).Methods Four hundred and forty consecutive patients including 133 HCC cases who had biphase abdominal CT were assessed in this study.The routine abdominal enhanced CT scan(GE,LightSpeed16) was performed with 120 kV,200—240 mAs,10 mm collimation,1.375 pitch,and 10 mm reconstruction interval at 22—25 seconds for arterial phase triggered by timing bolus,60 seconds for portal venous phase after injection of 100 ml contrast material(300 mg I/ml) at a rate of 3.5 ml/s.Multiplanar reconstruction(MPR) and maximum intensity projection(MIP) images were generated using 1.25 mm images reconstructed with 1 mm interval in arterial phase and reviewed by two radiologists.An enhanced artery medial-posterior to the IVC,originated from aorta or its branches to the diaphragmatic dome was interpreted as the RIPA.Results The RIPA was showed in all(440 patients)(100%).Among 218(49.5%) RIPAs originated from the aorta,140 were from the right side of the aorta,22 from the left side of the aorta,56 from the anterior wall of the aorta,36 RIPAs had the same origin with the left inferior phrenic artery.Among 138(31.4%) RIPAs from the celiac artery,10 RIPAs had the same origin with the left gastric artery,and 33 RIPAs had the same origin with the left inferior phrenic artery.78(17.7%) were from the right renal artery,6(1.4%) were from the left gastric artery(the left gastric artery from aorta).The dilatation of the RIPA was demonstrated in 16 of(133 hepatocellular) carcinoma patients.Conclusion Multislice helical CT could demonstrate the origin of the RIPA in arterial phase and provide useful anatomical information for angiographer before and after TACE.