SPIRAL COMPUTED-TOMOGRAPHY ANGIOGRAPHY IN THE ASSESSMENT OF MIDDLE CEREBRAL-ARTERY OCCLUSIVE DISEASE

There has been no report on the use of spiral computed tomography angi ography (CTA) in the investigation of intracranial cerebral artery ste nosis. A prospective pilot study was conducted to investigate the feas ibility of CTA in the diagnosis of intracranial occlusive disease and its correlation with transcranial Doppler. With transcranial Doppler, 10 patients with acute ischaemic stroke with middle cerebral artery st enosis or occlusion were identified. There were seven middle cerebral artery stenoses and five middle cerebral artery occlusions. The CTA co nfirmed all diagnoses by transcranial Doppler except in one patient wi th middle cerebral artery occlusion in whom the embolus had probably p ropagated. The results showed that CTA is feasible and potentially use ful in the diagnosis of middle cerebral artery occlusive disease. Furt her studies are required to assess its validity, sensitivity, and spec ificity in the diagnosis of middle cerebral artery occlusive disease.