Spiral CT angiography in diagnosis of cerebral aneurysms of cases with acute subarachnoid hemorrhage.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the diagnostic accuracy of spiral CT angiography (CTA) in detection of cerebral aneurysms in cases with acute subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH).


METHODS
Spiral CT angiography and DSA examinations were performed in 32 cases due to non-traumatic SAH. CTA data were obtained by maximum intensity projection (MIP) method. CTA and DSA findings were evaluated and compared in terms of existence of aneurysm, size and location.


RESULTS
In 32 patients, DSA detected 34 aneurysms with diameters ranging from 3 to 13 mm while four cases were free of aneurysms. With CTA, an aneurysm at anterior communicating artery location could not be demonstrated. In all other cases CTA correlated well with DSA in detecting the site, size and orientation of the aneurysms. It was found that CTA sensitivity was 97% and specificity was 100% in diagnosis of intracranial aneurysms.


CONCLUSIONS
Spiral CTA is a highly accurate, cheap and non-invasive imaging method in diagnosis of intracranial aneurysms in cases with SAH and can be used as a safe alternative method to DSA when emergency surgery is needed.
Uysal
Ender
E
Departments of Radiology, Sişli Etfal Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey. enderuysal@hotmail.com
Yanbuloğlu
Bariş
B
Ertürk
Mehmet
M
Kilinç
Bekir M
BM
Başak
Muzaffer
M
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D002532:Intracranial Aneurysm / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D013345:Subarachnoid Hemorrhage / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D036542:Tomography, Spiral Computed / Q000379:methods*; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology