PRELIMINARY EVALUATION OF CAROTID STENOSE S WITH 3D MORPHOMETER AND SPIRAL CT

Carotid stenosis evaluation is now possible with 3D Imaging. We prospe ctively compared the diagnostic value of Spiral CT and 3D Morphometer with conventional intraarterial DSA considered as the gold standard. W e studied 19 bifurcations in 10 patients. We evaluated the stenosis fo llowing the NASCET guidelines on the DSA, with common carotid injectio n, on the 3D databases of 3D morphometer and of spiral CT (using MIP d isplay). There was a good correlation between the degree of stenosis c alculated with the 3D morphometer and angiography even if severe steno ses were slightly overestimated with the former. For the spiral CT dat abases, accurate diameters were impossible to obtain in case of huge c alcifications. There was no benefit of measuring the surfaces on reori ented axial views in comparison with native axial views and MIP images . With the 3D morphometer, post processing selective visualization of the carotid bifurcations is possible without selective injection. The 3D acquisition with 3D morphometer could be an additional acquisition of a standard DSA. It should replace selective injections and should r educe the side effects of angiography.