title: [Assessment of cross-sectional area and diameter of carotid artery using time-of-flight MR angiography and CT angiography].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In carotid artery stenosis, precisely assessing the vessel cross-sectional area and diameter is important because this result determines the treatment strategy for patients. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the vessel sizes of normal and stenotic carotid arteries using time-of-flight magnetic resonance angiography (TOF-MRA) and X-ray CT angiography (CTA).
  
  
  METHODS
  The TOF-MRA and the CTA data were obtained using 3D TOF-MRA on a 1.5-T MR scanner (1.0 mm slice thickness) and dynamic contrast-enhanced multi-detector row CT (0.5 mm slice thickness). In thirty-three normal patients (20 men, 13 women, mean age of 66.9±9.0 years) and eighteen patients with carotid artery stenosis (12 men, 6 women, mean age of 74.4±6.4 years), we measured the vessel cross-sectional areas and the diameters of the internal and common carotid arteries (ICAs and CCAs) using TOF-MRA and CTA and a vessel-analytic program of the workstation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean cross-sectional areas and diameters of normal ICAs and CCAs determined using TOF-MRA were significantly smaller than those determined using CTA. The percentages of area and diameter stenoses found using TOF-MRA were 7.7 and 14.3% higher than those found using CTA. In six cases in the stenotic group, the stenotic artery showed no signal using TOF-MRA, but the CTA depicted it.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In both normal and stenotic carotid arteries, TOF-MRA underestimates vessel size more than CTA does.
authors.affiliation: Division of Health Science, Kanazawa University Graduate School of Medical Science.
authors.forename: Eriko
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Yasuda
authors.forename: Tosiaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Miyati
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000792:Angiography; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D017536:Carotid Artery, Common / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D002343:Carotid Artery, Internal / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D016893:Carotid Stenosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed