Bartolozzi C, Neri E, Caramella D
Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology Department of Oncology, University of Pisa, Via Roma 67, I-56100 Pisa, Italy.
Eur Radiol. 1998;8(5):679-84. doi: 10.1007/s003300050459.
Since the introduction of helical scanners, CT angiography (CTA) has achieved an essential role in many vascular applications that were previously managed with conventional angiography. The performance of CTA is based on the accurate selection of collimation width, pitch, reconstruction spacing and scan delay, which must be modulated on the basis of the clinical issue. However, the major improvement of CT has been provided by the recent implementation of many post-processing techniques, such as multiplanar reformatting, shaded surface display, maximum intensity projections, 3D perspectives of surface and volume rendering, which simulate virtual intravascular endoscopy. The integration of the potentialities of the scanner and of the image processing techniques permitted improvement of: (a) the evaluation of aneurysms, dissection and vascular anomalies involving the thoracic aorta; (b) carotid artery stenosis; (c) aneurysms of abdominal aorta; (d) renal artery stenosis; (e) follow-up of renal artery stenting; and (f) acute or chronic pulmonary embolism. Our experience has shown that the assessment of arterial pathologies with CTA requires the integration of 3D post-processing techniques in most applications.
自从螺旋扫描仪问世以来，CT血管造影（CTA）在许多以前通过传统血管造影进行处理的血管应用中发挥了重要作用。CTA的性能基于准直宽度、螺距、重建间距和扫描延迟的准确选择，这些必须根据临床问题进行调整。然而，CT的主要改进得益于最近许多后处理技术的应用，如多平面重组、表面阴影显示、最大密度投影、表面和容积再现的3D透视，这些技术模拟了虚拟血管内内窥镜检查。扫描仪的潜力与图像处理技术的结合使得以下方面得到了改进：（a）对涉及胸主动脉的动脉瘤、夹层和血管异常的评估；（b）颈动脉狭窄；（c）腹主动脉瘤；（d）肾动脉狭窄；（e）肾动脉支架置入术后的随访；以及（f）急性或慢性肺栓塞。我们的经验表明，在大多数应用中，使用CTA评估动脉病变需要结合3D后处理技术。
