Aim: To assess the significance of three-dimensional computed tomography angiography (3D-CTA) in detecting remnant necks after cerebral aneurysm clipping.
Materials and methods: A total of 59 patients (77 aneurysms) underwent surgery using titanium clips. Two blinded observers independently evaluated the presence of neck remnants on shaded-surface display (SSD) imaging, volume rendered (VR) imaging, and intra-arterial digital subtraction angiography (IADSA).
Results: Mean sensitivity and specificity for detecting neck remnants were 50.0 and 74.2% for SSD imaging, 61.5 and 82.8% for VR imaging, and 92.3 and 92.2% for IADSA, respectively. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis revealed excellent diagnostic performance for IADSA [mean area under ROC curve (Az)=0.97], and good diagnostic performance for 3D-CTA (Az=0.70 and 0.76 for SSD and VR, respectively). Specificity of VR was better than that SSD (p=0.082), however, there was no significant difference between them.
Conclusion: Use of 3D-CTA techniques can facilitate postoperative evaluation.