Preoperative evaluation of the hepatic vascular anatomy in living liver donors: comparison of CT angiography and MR angiography.
OBJECTIVE
To compare the diagnostic performance of CT angiography (CTA) and MR angiography (MRA) for preoperative hepatic vascular evaluation in living liver donors.


METHODS
Twenty-eight living donor candidates underwent preoperative CTA and MRA. Two blinded radiologists evaluated the anatomic types of the hepatic artery (HA) and portal vein (PV), and the number of aberrant hepatic veins (HVs) on both CTA and MRA, independently. Four grades of confidence levels were used to indicate the clarity of depiction of the HA and PV. Surgical findings were used as a standard of reference.


RESULTS
For determining the anatomic types of the HA and PV, and the number of aberrant HVs, CTA and MRA did not significantly differ in terms of accuracy ([89%, 96%, and 68% on CTA] vs. [86%, 93%, and 68% on MRA] for reader 1, P>0.05; and [93%, 100%, and 86% on CTA] vs. [89%, 93%, and 79% on MRA] for reader 2, P>0.05). Confidence for the depiction of major branches of HA and PV did not differ between CTA and MRA, except for a better depiction of the left HA (LHA) on CTA (P<0.05)


CONCLUSIONS
In living donor candidates, both CTA and MRA can provide a complete evaluation of the hepatic vascular anatomy.
Lee
Min Woo
MW
Department of Radiology, Institute of Radiation Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
Lee
Jeong Min
JM
Lee
Jae Young
JY
Kim
Se Hyung
SH
Park
Eun-Ah
EA
Han
Joon Koo
JK
Kim
Young Jun
YJ
Shin
Kyung-Sook
KS
Suh
Kyung-Suk
KS
Choi
Byung Ihn
BI
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006499:Hepatic Artery / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000637:transplantation; D006801:Humans; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D019520:Living Donors; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011172:Portography / Q000379:methods*; D011300:Preoperative Care / Q000379:methods; D011379:Prognosis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome