title: Impact of MDCT angiography on the use of catheter angiography for the assessment of cervical arterial injury after blunt or penetrating trauma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of our study was to assess the impact of the increasing use of MDCT angiography in the setting of blunt and penetrating neck trauma on the use of digital subtraction angiography (DSA) at our institution, a level 1 trauma center.
  
  
  METHODS
  From January 2001 to December 2003, 57 patients were referred for CT angiography or DSA of the neck after blunt or penetrating neck trauma. All CT angiograms were acquired with a 4-MDCT scanner. The patients were divided into three groups on the basis of consecutive 12-month periods (2001, 2002, and 2003), and the initial imaging technique was recorded. The results of CT and digital subtraction angiograms were compared with operative findings and with clinical course, when available.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In 2001, 12 patients were referred for imaging: nine patients were evaluated initially with DSA and three patients were evaluated with CT angiography and subsequently with DSA. In 2002 and 2003, 11 and 34 patients, respectively, underwent CT angiography as the initial imaging examination. During these 2 years, no patient underwent DSA as the initial diagnostic test, but five patients underwent DSA after CT angiography for the following indications: evaluation of nondiagnostic CT angiograms (n = 1), confirmation of findings when requested by the clinical service (n = 2), and catheter-guided therapy (n = 2).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CT angiography has essentially replaced DSA as the study of choice for the initial evaluation of the neck vessels in the setting of blunt or penetrating trauma at our institution. CT angiography is adequate for the initial evaluation, allows appropriate triage of patients to conventional angiography or surgery for appropriate treatment, and can guide conservative management when appropriate.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Boston Medical Center, 88 East Newton St., Boston, MA 02118, USA. joshua.stuhlfaut@bmc.org
authors.forename: Joshua W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Stuhlfaut
authors.forename: Glenn
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Barest
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Sakai
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lucey
authors.forename: Jorge A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Soto
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000792:Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D015901:Angiography, Digital Subtraction; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008297:Male; D009333:Neck / Q000098:blood supply*; D019838:Neck Injuries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed