| Preoperative Evaluation of Right
Gastroepiploic Artery with CT-Angiography |
(Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Hiroshima
General Hospital, Hiroshima, Japan)
| Satoru Maeba |
Yasushi Kawaue |
Tatsuya Nakao |
|
It is a common notion that the right
gastroepiploic artery (RGEA) tends to exhibit more hardening
than the internal thoracic artery (ITA) and that it shows varied
development among patients, since RGEAs are structurally rich
in musculature. Therefore, a preoperative examination should
be conducted to determine whether or not they are appropriate
for grafting. In general, catheter-angiography is widely employed
for such examinations. Our recent research on the availability
of CT-angiography as an alternative has revealed that CT-angiography
is a minimally-invasive, simple way of testing, and provides
very clear and detailed angiographical pictures. We therefore
concluded that it was a highly effective method in deciding the
appropriateness of RGEA for graft.
Jpn. J. Cardiovasc. Surg. 31：377-381 (2002) |
|
