title: The "Vessel through Strait" Sign is a Signature Radiological Sign for the Diagnosis of Left Hepatic Artery Variation.
abstract: An aberrant artery (AA) can frequently be observed coursing through the fissure for the ligamentum venosum (FLV) which was termed the "vessel through strait" sign (VTSS) by us. Fundamental data including the incidence, anatomical composition and clinical significance of VTSS and the AAs composing VTSS are still lacking. We sought to give a systematic demonstration on this issue in the present study. VTSS was respectively analyzed in 2,275 patients and was observed in 357 of them. Interestingly, 319 (89.4%) out of the 357 patients exhibiting VTSS were proved to have left hepatic artery variation (LHAV) (247 with replaced left hepatic artery, 64 with accessory left hepatic artery and 8 with variant common hepatic artery). We therefore hypothesized that VTSS could be a sign that strongly associated with LHAV and could be used for its diagnosis. In the following validating analysis, VTSS gained a sensitivity of 96.3% and a specificity of 98.3% for the diagnosis of LHAV in another bicenter cohort consisted of 1,329 patients. In conclusion, VTSS is a signature radiological sign of LHAV which could be used as an easy and specific method for the diagnosis of LHAV.
authors.affiliation: Comprehensive Liver Cancer Center, the 302 Hospital, 100 Xi-Si-Huan Middle Road, Beijing 100039, China.
authors.forename: Guanghua
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rong
authors.affiliation: Department of Interventional Radiology, the General Hospital of PLA, Beijing 100853, China.
authors.forename: Zhijun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Interventional Radiology, the 302 Hospital, 100 Xi-Si-Huan Middle Road, Beijing 100039, China.
authors.forename: Ximing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Interventional Radiology, the 302 Hospital, 100 Xi-Si-Huan Middle Road, Beijing 100039, China.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Interventional Radiology, the 302 Hospital, 100 Xi-Si-Huan Middle Road, Beijing 100039, China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Interventional Radiology, the 302 Hospital, 100 Xi-Si-Huan Middle Road, Beijing 100039, China.
authors.forename: Huaming
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy, the 302 Hospital, 100 Xi-Si-Huan Middle Road, Beijing 100039, China.
authors.forename: Junhua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, the 302 Hospital, 100 Xi-Si-Huan Middle Road, Beijing 100039, China.
authors.forename: Jinghui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, the 302 Hospital, 100 Xi-Si-Huan Middle Road, Beijing 100039, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, the 302 Hospital, 100 Xi-Si-Huan Middle Road, Beijing 100039, China.
authors.forename: Weimin
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: An
authors.affiliation: Department of Liver Transplantation, the 302 Hospital, 100 Xi-Si-Huan Middle Road, Beijing 100039, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Comprehensive Liver Cancer Center, the 302 Hospital, 100 Xi-Si-Huan Middle Road, Beijing 100039, China.
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.affiliation: Comprehensive Liver Cancer Center, the 302 Hospital, 100 Xi-Si-Huan Middle Road, Beijing 100039, China.
authors.forename: Yinying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy, the 302 Hospital, 100 Xi-Si-Huan Middle Road, Beijing 100039, China.
authors.forename: Yongwu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006499:Hepatic Artery / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000098:blood supply; D008297:Male; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*