الفهرس 
Introduction and Aim of the WorkOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Aortoiliac and lower extremity arterial diseases represent a significant health problem with increased morbidity and mortality.
CTA is increasingly used for diagnostic imaging in patients with peripheral arterial disease.
The use of multi– detector row technology has resulted in shorter acquisition time, increased volume coverage, lower dose of contrast medium, and improved spatial resolution for assessing small arterial branches
The objective of our study was to determine the accuracy of multidetector CT MDCTA in assessing diseases of the aortoiliac system and the lower extremities compared with digital subtraction angiography (DSA).
We examined 50 patients with ischemic legs underwent both MDCT angiography and DSA of the aortoiliac system and the legs. The arterial supply of the legs was divided into 22 segments.
Our results showed that CT angiography is the optimal strategy for the initial diagnostic work-up for peripheral arterial disease. The current study showd a sensitivity and specificity of 88.2% and 94.1% prospectively, and an over all accuracy of 91.3 %.
A major drawback of CT angiography is the difficulty in assessing arterial luminal stenosis in extensively calcified vessels.
We showed that sever vessel wall calcifications at CTA are associated with decreased diagnostic accuracy and the need in further assessment and the need for additional vascular imaging. This result implies that it would be useful to identify in advance patients for whom the initial CT angiographic findings would not be conclusive like elderly patients, patients with long history of DM in whom sever calcification of the arterial system especially the popliteo-crural vessels is suspected.