Determining and Comparing the Findings of CT Angiography and Cerebral Angiography in Patients with Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

This study was conducted to compare the findings of computed tomography angiography (CTA) and 4-vessel Angio angiography (4V) in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH).

This retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted to compare the findings of CTA and cerebral angiography in patients with SAH. Data were extracted from radiology reports of patients who underwent CTA and cerebral angiography.

We included 60 patients with SAH, comprising 32 women (53.3%) and 28 men (46.7%). The mean age of the participants was 59.3 ± 9.6 years. 22 patients (37%) had abnormal findings, including three patients (13.7%) with AVM and 86.3% with aneurysm. Among 22 patients, the aneurysm was diagnosed in 16 patients (72.7%) by CTA method. The data indicates that the CTA method has an 81.8% accuracy, 72.7% sensitivity, and 100% specificity in identifying vascular abnormalities in patients with spontaneous SAH compared to the 4V angiography method. The area under the curve for diagnosing aneurysm and AVM by CTA method was 0.632 (91-67: 95% CI (P = 0.028). The positive and negative predictive values of the CTA method for aneurysm diagnosis were 10.9 and 83.6, respectively. The mean size of the aneurysm was significantly lower in CTA than in 4V angiography (5.44 vs. 7.11 mm) (P = 0.04).

The results of the present study showed that the CTA method has acceptable accuracy and specificity in diagnosing aneurysm and AVM in spontaneous SAH compared to the 4V angiography method.