Purpose: Better time-resolved imaging of stent grafts in the ascending aorta and arch accounting for cardiac motion is necessary to understand device-related complications and endoleaks. This report describes dynamic time-resolved computed tomographic angiography (d-CTA) and its combination with electrocardiography gating (d-gated CTA) to image stent grafts in the ascending aorta and to characterize endoleaks more clearly.
Description: d-CTA involves multiple scans acquired at different time points along the contrast enhancement curve. d-Gated CTA involves concomitant electrocardiography gating in a predefined cardiac phase minimizing motion-induced artifacts.
Evaluation: This report illustrates the utility of d-CTA and d-gated CTA in 2 clinical cases. d-CTA demonstrated a type 1A endoleak in a patient with an aortic arch aneurysm treated with total arch debranching and a thoracic stent graft. d-gated CTA demonstrated a type 1A endoleak in a patient with an ascending aortic pseudoaneurysm treated with aortic cuff placement.
Conclusions: Dynamic, cardiac-gated CTA enables time-resolved angiographic imaging of the ascending aorta and arch without any cardiac motion-related artifacts. Such advanced imaging techniques help with better characterization of endoleaks after stent graft deployment in the ascending aorta and arch.
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