title: MR angiography vs CT angiography in the follow-up of nitinol stent grafts in endoluminally treated aortic aneurysms.
abstract: Our objective was to evaluate the accuracy of contrast-enhanced 3D MR angiography (MRA) in the follow-up of patients with endoluminally treated aortic aneurysms and correlate these findings with uni- or biphasic CT angiography (CTA). Forty MR angiograms in 32 patients with implanted aortic nitinol stent grafts were compared to CTA. Twenty-two MR examinations were correlated with arterial-phase CTA (uniphasic), and 18 MR examinations were correlated with biphasic CTA. Uniphasic CTA demonstrated three type-1/type-3 endoleaks and four reperfusion (type-2) endoleaks. In addition, MRA depicted two type-2 reperfusion endoleaks that were missed by CTA. Using biphasic CTA, two type-1/type-3 endoleaks and three reperfusion (type-2) endoleaks were detected; of those, delayed scanning detected three reperfusion (type-2) endoleaks missed during arterial-phase CTA. In addition to the findings by CTA, MRA depicted another type-2 reperfusion endoleak. Magnetic resonance angiography is at least as sensitive as uni- or biphasic CTA for detecting endoleaks and may consequently offer advantages in patients with contraindications to iodinated contrast agents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Vienna Medical School, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, 1090 Vienna, Austria. manfred.cejna@univie.ac.at
authors.forename: Manfred
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cejna
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Loewe
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schoder
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dirisamer
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hölzenbein
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kretschmer
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lammer
authors.forename: Siegfried
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Thurnher
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000497:Alloys; D001014:Aortic Aneurysm / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D003287:Contrast Media; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017543:Iliac Aneurysm / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015588:Observer Variation; D011475:Prosthesis Failure; D015607:Stents; D013382:Subtraction Technique; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D000497:Alloys; D003287:Contrast Media; C013616:nitinol