Apoorva Agrawal¹, Chennamaneni Vikas², Ramesh T³

¹Postgraduate student, Department of Radiology, ² Associate Professor, Department of Radiology, ³ Professor and Head, Department of Radiology, Prathima Institute of Medical Sciences, Karimnagar, Telangana, India.

Corresponding Author: Dr. Apoorva Agrawal, Postgraduate Student, Department of Radiology, Prathima Institute of Medical Sciences, Karimnagar, Telangana, India.

Email: apoorvdiagnostic@gmail.com

Introduction:Most common cause of non traumatic subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) is ruptured intracranial aneurysm. Its assessment is a dire emergency because of its high mortality rate. Computed tomography angiography (CTA) plays a great role in assessment because it is fast with minimum patient preparation and it is highly sensitive and specific.

Materials and Methods: An observational study to find out the incidence and types of intracranial aneurysms in patients with non traumatic SAH and its correlation with intra-operative findings was conducted among 124 patients during the period of January 2013 to July 2014. Patients with SAH in non-enhanced CT were included in the study. CTA results were confirmed by intra-operative evidence of aneurysm.

Results: Out of 124 patients, 84.67% patients had aneurysm(s). There were total 114 aneurysms found among 105 positive cases. Out of the 114 aneurysms, 47.37% were located in anterior communicating artery, 28.07% in middle cerebral artery, 16.67% in internal carotid artery, 7.02% in posterior communicating artery and 0.87% in the basilar artery. Intraoperative correlation was 99%. There was 100% specificity with no false positive finding.

Conclusion: Accurate detection and characterization of intracranial aneurysms is an essential prerequisite for surgical treatment planning. The introduction of 128 slice CT scanner has greatly advanced the role of CTA in three dimensional analysis of intracranial aneurysms particularly in places where digital subtraction angiography (DSA) is not available. CTA is highly sensitive and specific and can replace DSA for diagnostic purposes.

Keywords :CT angiography, Intracranial aneurysms, Subarachnoid haemorrhage