Comparative analysis of diagnostic evaluation of abdominal aortic aneurysm: CT angiography versus Seldinger angiography.

Introduction: Preoperative evaluation of patients with aneurysm of abdominal aorta includes CT angiography. Stenotic changes of iliac arteries greater than 50% imply consideration of aorto-femoral reconstruction in order to avoid upcoming occlusion of iliac arteries in the near future.

Aim: Comparison of detection of arterial stenotic changes between CT and Seldinger angiographies that are > or = 50% in aorto-iliaco femoral region.

Methods And Patients: This is a retrospective descriptive study that included 73 patients diagnosed with AAA from 2006-2008. Both CT and Seldinger angiography were performed on 43 patients, while 30 patients were evaluated only with CT angiography.

Results: out of 43 patients that were evaluated with both CT and Seldinger angiography, 30 of them were males and 13 were females. Stenotic changes > or = 50% detected by CT are as follows: aortic bifurcation -9.3% of patients, common iliac artery-11.62% of patients, internal iliac artery -46.51% of patients, external iliac artery 25.58% of patients and 4.6% of patients in case od common femoral artery. Seldinger angiography detected stenotic changes > or = 50% as follows: aortic bifurcation -16.27% of patients, common iliac artery -16.27% of patients, internal iliac artery -60.46% of patients, external iliac artery 32.55% of patients and 9.3% of stenotic changes at the level of common femoral artery.

Conclusion: Seldinger angiography detected more stenotic changes of iliac artery segment in comparison to CT angiography and in that aspect every suspicion of potential stenotic change in iliac artery segment should be additionally evaluated by Seldinger angiogram in case of patients with AAA.