Angiotomography for aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations of the head and neck.

Angiotomographic studies were performed preoperatively on 201 arterial aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) of the head and neck. There were two extracranial aneurysms, 186 intracranial aneurysms and 13 intracranial AVMs. The equipment used was the Philips NeuroDiagnost, either armed with a single multisection cassett for single-phase angiotomography or a triple cassette system on a motor-driven prism for serial amgiotomography. Angiotomography was limited to lesions where its use promised to add significantly to the information already obtained from conventional angiograms. Angiotomography was found to be of particular value for the differentiation of small aneurysms from normal vascular structures, for the study of morphology and topography of more or less spherical aneurysms in close proximity to a number of neighboring arteries, for the study of giant aneurysms, for the demonstration of very small AVMs (microangiomas) and for the evaluation of feeding and draining vessels of midline AVMs.