Abstract
Objective
Careful follow up is necessary after intracranial stenting because in-stent restenosis (ISR) or residual stenosis (RS) is not rare. A minimally invasive follow-up imaging technique is desirable. The objective was to compare the visualisation of stents in Flat Detector-CT Angiography (FD-CTA) after intravenous contrast medium injection (i.v.) with Multi Detector Computed Tomography Angiography (MD-CTA) and Digital Subtracted Angiography (DSA) in an animal model.
Methods
Stents were implanted in the carotid artery of 12 rabbits. In 6 a residual stenosis (RS) was surgically created. Imaging was performed using FD-CTA, MD-CTA and DSA. Measurements of the inner and outer diameter and cross-section area of the stents were performed. Stenosis grade was calculated.
Results
In subjective evaluation FD-CTA was superior to MD-CTA. FD-CTA was more accurate compared with DSA than MD-CTA. Cross-sectional area of the stent lumen was significantly larger (p < 0.05) in FD-CTA in comparison to MD-CTA. Accurate evaluation of stenosis was impossible in MD-CTA. There was no statistically significant difference in the stenosis grade of DSA and FD-CTA.
Conclusion
Our results show that visualisation of stent and stenosis using intravenous FD-CTA compares favourably with DSA and may replace DSA in the follow-up of patients treated with intracranial stents.
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Acknowledgement
The work described in this study was supported by a grant from the ELAN-Fonds, Erlangen, Germany (www.elan.uk-erlangen.de), Project number 07.07.18.1. Boston Scientific/Target supported our work by supporting stents and other angiographic equipment.
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Struffert, T., Ott, S., Adamek, E. et al. Flat-detector computed tomography in the assessment of intracranial stents: comparison with multi detector CT and conventional angiography in a new animal model. Eur Radiol 21, 1779–1787 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-011-2093-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-011-2093-7