Abstract
A preliminary study comparing three dimensional time of flight (TOF 3D) Magnetic Resonance angiography (MRA) and spiral CT angiography (SCTA) in the detection and evaluation of internal carotid stenosis.
Digital subtraction angiography (DSA) was the gold standard.
Twenty patients with clinical signs of cerebrovascular insufficiency underwent MRA, SCTA and DSA within a three day period. Both internal carotid arteries were evaluated for absence or degree of stenosis.
Sensitivity, specificity, diagnostic accuracy, concordance, overstimation and understimation were assessed. MRA showed a higher sensitivity, specificity, diagnostic accuracy and concordance compared to SCTA (92% versus 80%, 98,2% versus 96,4%, 96,3% versus 88%, respectively). MRA demonstrated a 5% overstimation rate whereas SCTA demonstrated a 7,5% understimation rate. These differences are not statistically significant.
These results suggest that MRA is the more useful, non invasive modality for the detection and evaluation of the internal carotid artery with a greater than 70% stenoses.
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