Peripheral CT angiography for interventional treatment planning.

Lower extremity CT angiography (CTA) has evolved into a very effective, widely available and robust imaging modality for patients with peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD). In this article we briefly review the acquisition and contrast administration techniques for 4- through 64-channel peripheral CTA. Visualization of atherosclerotic disease with CTA in general requires 'angiography-like' 3D images (such as volume rendered or maximum intensity projection images), but-notably in the presence of vessel wall calcifications and stents-cross-sectional views (such as curved planar reformations, CPR) are also required to accurately assess the flow lumen of the aorta down to the pedal arteries. Adequate visualization and mapping of atherosclerotic lesions in patients with PAOD is not only a prerequisite for generating a dictated report, but more importantly, standardized postprocessed images are the key to communicating the findings to the treating physician, and they also serve as a treatment planning tool. Treatment decisions (surgical versus transluminal revascularization, or conservative treatment), and percutaneous treatment planning (access site, antegrade versus retrograde puncture) can be made in the majority of patients with PAOD based on lower extremity CT angiograms.