الفهرس 
Gross Anatomy of the AortaOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Computed tomographic angiography (CTA) has challenged digital subtraction angiography (DSA) in the evaluation of the vascular system. CTA is substantially less invasive and less expensive, and allows three dimensional visualization from any angle and in any direction, which cannot be achieved with projection techniques such as DSA. Rapid acquisition is another major advantage of CT angiography.
Spiral CTA was able to accurately diagnose congenital aortic lesions; such as interrupted aortic arch. Information about aortic aneurysms; such as size, presence of calcifications, mural thrombus, leakage, and pressure on adjacent structures were provided by spiral CTA. In the current study, patients with aneurysms involving various aortic regions constituted 63.3% of the cases studied.
Acute aortic dissection is a potentially life-threatening condition that requires prompt and accurate diagnosis to initiate appropriate surgical intervention or medical treatment. Spiral CTA was able to differentiate dissection according to DeBakey’s calssification into types I, II, (equivalent to Stanford A), IIIa and b (equivalent to Stanford B). Spiral CTA was able to provide information about patency of true and false lumens, involvement of branches of the aorta, and signs of rupture or leakage. Only three patients (10%) had dissections in different parts of the aorta. Six patients (20%) with dissecting aneurysms were studied.
The endoluminal repair of aortic aneurysms with stent-grafts is rapidly becoming an important alternative to open repair. Unlike open repair, the success of endoluminal repair cannot be ascertained by means of direct examination and thus relies on imaging results. CT angiography is increasingly used for assessing the success of endoluminal aortic aneurysm repair.
Uniform vascular enhancement for the duration of the image acquistion is highly desirable for CTA; however this may be difficult to provide using constant rate injection.
In most patients, correctly performed CT angiography can reveal all the information needed for planning optimal surgical therapy. Axial cuts can provide most of the information needed; however, 2D and 3D reformatted images are more familiar to surgeons and may add additional, or better-verified, information obtained from axial images.