The usefulness of 3D-CT angiography for the diagnosis of spontaneous vertebral artery dissection - report of two cases

Spontaneous vertebral artery dissection (VAD) has been recognized as being more common than was first thought, with the growing use of magnetic resona nce imaging (MRI). However, simple MRI alone is not always satisfactory for making an accurate diagnosis. We experienced two cases of VAD in our clini c, in which three-dimensional computed tomographic angiography (3D-CTA) was performed. Our scanner has the capability of examining a slice of 1 mm thi ck, 0.5 mm reconstruction pitch, and a scan time of 1 s/rotation. 3D-CTA cl early demonstrated the stenotic change concomitant with the surrounding thr ombus and was thought to be useful for making an accurate diagnosis. (C) 20 00 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.