64-row CTA tops DSA in brain aneurysm detection

Thanks to a near-perfect performance in a large cohort study in China, 64-slice CT angiography has shown it could replace digital subtraction angiography as the modality of choice for detecting suspected brain aneurysms at risk of spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Dr. Qi Li and an investigative team at Chongqing Medical University enrolled 108 consecutive patients with suspected intracranial aneurysms who underwent 64-slice CTA and DSA between May 2006 and June 2007. The investigators used combined DSA and surgical findings as the reference standard to compare CTA results.

Both modalities detected the same number of aneurysms. But CTA enabled radiologists to make more reassuring diagnoses with 3D techniques such as volume rendering and maximum intensity projections, which helped skirt overlapping anatomic structures and artifacts and provide accurate lesion characterizations. The findings were published in the September issue of Radiology.