Why the study?
Does digital subtraction angiography accurately diagnose abnormalities of the thoracic aorta?
Does digital subtraction angiography accurately diagnose abnormalities of the thoracic aorta?
Intravenous digital subtraction angiography is highly accurate (95%) for evaluating thoracic aortic abnormalities and could potentially replace standard aortography in the majority of cases.
Supports DSA as potential aortogram alternative in thoracic aortic evaluation; leaves open need for prospective validation before practice change.
Forty-three patients with acquired and congenital abnormalities of the thoracic aorta were studied using digital subtraction angiography (DSA) after an intravenous bolus injection of 40 ml of contrast material. Abnormalities studied included coarctation, pseudocoarctation, Marfan syndrome, cervical aorta, double aortic arch, aneurysm, dissection, and tumor. Twenty-four patients also had conventional angiography. DSA was accurate in 95% of cases; in the other 5%, involving patients with acute type I dissection, the coronary arteries could not be seen. The authors concluded that in 92% of their patients, DSA could have replaced the standard aortogram.
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Grossman et al. (1984) studied this question.
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