The Application of Retrospective ECG Gated 320-MSCT Angiography in Diagnosis of Congenital Pulmonary Arterial Anomalies in Pediatrics

Abstract

Congenital pulmonary arteries anomalies included a wide-ranged spectrum of pathology that is usually associated with other congenital heart diseases. These anomalies can be classified into several major categories, which show considerable overlap among those categories. The aim of this study is to evaluate the role of multi-slice computed tomography (MSCT) angiography in assessment of pulmonary arteries anomalies. This study included 76 patients (42 males and 34 females) with male to female ratio 55.2% to 44.7%. The age of the patients ranged from 4 days to 15 years. The studied cases for pulmonary arteries anomalies were subclassified to anomalies of the caliber, origin and development (conotruncal anomalies). We compared MSCT findings with the data collected by cardiac catheterization and/or operation in 38 patients. 320-MSCT diagnosed cases of pulmonary arterial anomalies with 99% sensitivity, 99.8% specificity, 99% PPV, 99.8% NPV and 93.4% accuracy. This study concluded that MSCT is a non-invasive imaging modality that has a significant value in the evaluation of the congenital pulmonary arteries anomalies and its associated extracardiac anomalies in pediatric patients as well as assessment of post-operative complications. It is superior to ECHO in evaluating the pulmonary artery anomalies specially the pulmonary artery branches which are obscured by aerated lung. Also, there is good outcome of the cases owing to early and accurate diagnosis of the cases and post-operative follow up.