Quick evaluation of lower leg ischemia in patients with peripheral arterial disease by time maximum intensity projection CT angiography: a pilot study

Abstract

Background The purpose of this study is to evaluate a new method involving time maximum intensity projection (t-MIP) postprocessed from dynamic computed tomographic angiography (dyn-CTA) in diagnosing peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Methods A population of 34 patients with known PAD was examined with a combined CTA protocol consisting of a standard CTA (s-CTA) scan of the lower extremities and a dyn-CTA scan of the calves. For each lower leg, t-MIP images consisting of the MIP 0 (sagittal MIP), MIP +θ (45° lateral MIP), and MIP −θ (− 45° lateral MIP) were automatically generated from dyn-CTA. An objective evaluation of the vascular CT attenuation of the best enhancement phase of dyn-CTA and t-MIP was measured; a subjective evaluation of vessel stenosis and occlusion was performed, assigning a score for t-MIP and s-CTA. The CT attenuation of t-MIP and dyn-CTA was compared, as were the runoff scores of t-MIP and s-CTA. Results The CT attenuation of t-MIP CTA of three vascular segments from 68 lower extremities was higher than that of the best enhancement phase of dyn-CTA and s-CTA, with statistically significant differences at the posterior tibial artery and fibular artery (all p \u2009<\u20090.05). There were strong correlations (r\u2009≥\u20090.75, p\u2009<\u20090.05) of the runoff scores between t-MIP and s-CTA. Conclusions There is potential clinical applicability of t-MIP in assisting with the diagnosis of lower leg vascular stenosis in dyn-CTA with reliable diagnostic accuracy and convenient immediacy.