title: Comparison of test performance characteristics of MRI, MR angiography, and CT angiography in the diagnosis of carotid and vertebral artery dissection: a review of the medical literature.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Initial assessment of patients with suspected dissection of the carotid or vertebral arteries typically is made by MRI, alone or in combination with MR angiography (MRA) or CT angiography (CTA). We reviewed the medical literature to determine, based on test performance characteristics such as sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value, whether evidence could be found to support routine use of one imaging technique over the other for assessment of suspected dissection.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Test characteristics for MR techniques such as MRI and MRA were relatively similar to those for CTA in diagnosis of carotid and vertebral artery dissection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Duke University Medical Center, Box 3808, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
authors.forename: James M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Provenzale
authors.forename: Basar
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sarikaya
mesh_terms: D000792:Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D020215:Carotid Artery, Internal, Dissection / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*; D020217:Vertebral Artery Dissection / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*