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Azygous Anterior Cerebral Artery and Associated Aneurysms: Detection and Identification Using 3‐Dimensional Time‐of‐Flight Magnetic Resonance Angiography
Author(s) -
WanYin Shi,
MingHua Li,
BinXian Gu,
YongDong Li,
HuaQiao Tan
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of neuroimaging
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1552-6569
pISSN - 1051-2284
DOI - 10.1111/j.1552-6569.2012.00769.x
Subject(s) - medicine , magnetic resonance angiography , magnetic resonance imaging , radiology , identification (biology) , angiography , aneurysm , anterior cerebral artery , cardiology , middle cerebral artery , ischemia , biology , botany
AIM The azygous anterior cerebral artery (Az) is a rarely observed anomaly of the anterior cerebral artery, and its associated aneurysm is even rarer. Our aim was to evaluate 3‐dimensional time‐of‐flight magnetic resonance angiography (3‐D‐TOF MRA) in the diagnosis of Az and associated aneurysms. MATERIALS AND METHODS Three thousand five hundred seventy‐two consecutive patients underwent 3‐D‐TOF MRA at 3.0 T. Postprocessing techniques, including volume rendering (VR) and single artery highlighting, were performed by a 3‐D specialist. All MRA data and clinical information were recorded and stored in a database for further analysis. RESULTS Fourteen patients (.39%) were identified as having an Az. Among these cases, 3 males (21.43%) had an aneurysm located at the distal bifurcation of the Az, with a mean size of 9.43 ± 3.33 mm. In MRA, the common trunk of the Az was slightly larger in diameter than the A1 segment (2.62 ± .35 mm vs. 2.54 ± .35 mm; P = .008). CONCLUSIONS With the VR technique, 3‐D‐TOF MRA is feasible and valuable in detecting an Az and associated aneurysm. Our MRA‐based study has proved that the Az is a rare anomaly but has a relatively high incidence of associated aneurysms.