title: Prevalence and significance of extravascular incidental  findings on computed tomographic angiography and  magnetic resonance angiography.
abstract: Computed tomographic angiography (CTA) and magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) are routinely used to evaluate patients with vascular disease. They have the ability to detect unexpected non-vascular pathology. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and significance of extravascular incidental findings in patients undergoing CTA or MRA. A retrospective review of 737 patients who underwent CTA and 184 patients who underwent MRA during a five-year period was performed. Incidental findings were classified as low, moderate or high significance findings. For patients with high significance extravascular findings, assessment of the rates of appropriate follow-up was conducted. Among the CTA patients, 539 (73.1%) had incidental findings. Low, moderate and high significance findings were discovered in 514 (69.7%), 95 (12.9%) and 41 (5.6%) patients, respectively. Twenty (48.8%) patients with high significance findings received appropriate follow-up investigations. Among the MRA patients, 95 (51.6%) had extravascular findings. Low, moderate and high significance findings were present in 80 (43.5%), 27 (14.7%), and 3 (1.6%) patients, respectively. Two (66.7%) patients with high significance findings were properly followed up. In conclusion, incidental findings on CTA and MRA are very common. A small percentage of these findings could be serious and were not all adequately followed-up in our study population. Referring physicians should be aware of the potential for serious incidental findings and manage them appropriately.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Roy Y
authors.initials: RY
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Jeffrey D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Jaskolka
authors.forename: Kong T
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Graham
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Roche-Nagle
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D033162:Incidental Findings; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed