Purpose: Multi-detector-row CT angiography (MDCTA) is useful for diagnosis of spinal arteriovenous (AV) shunt. So we reported the role and pitfall of MDCTA based on our experience.
Subjects: From January 2007 to September 2011, 57 cases used MDCTA in our institution. We investigated 22 case of spinal dural AVF and 5 cases of epidural AVF.
Methods: All cases were performed by Toshiba Aquilion 64. FOV was the whole spine, curved planar reconstruction along the spinal canal, sagittal and axial view obtained by multi-planar reconstruction.
Results: MDCTA detected dilated the perimedullary vein in all cases and identified the level of segmental artery matching the result of DSA in 16 cases of spinal dural AVF (73%) and 1 cases of epidural AVF (20%).
Conclusion: MDCTA is useful for screening, and identifying the shunt point, but care needs to be taken concerning the particular pitfall of MDCTA.