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CT in Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm

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CT in Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm, AAA Computed Tomography, Helical CT in Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm, CT Angiography of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm, Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm CTA

  • See Also
  1. Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm
  2. Ultrasound in Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm
  3. Abdominal Aortography
  1. Indications
    1. Suboptimal Ultrasound of AAA
    2. Suspected hemodynamically stable ruptured AAA
  2. Advantages over Ultrasound
    1. Reproducible results without operator variation
    2. Defines surrounding periaortic anatomy
    3. Identifies AAA rupture
      1. Ultrasound is not adequate to diagnose AAA rupture (other than free fluid)
  3. Limitations
    1. Does not define periaortic Vascular Anatomy
  • Imaging
  • Helical CT (Spiral CT) or CT Angiography
  1. Indications
    1. Preoperative AAA evaluation
  2. Advantages
    1. Defines periaortic Vascular Anatomy
    2. Replaces Abdominal Aortography in most cases
      1. Noninvasive detailed vascular imaging
      2. Offers three dimensional reconstruction (CTA)
  • Imaging
  • IV Contrast
  1. AAA diagnosis may be made on non-contrast CT (e.g. CT for Ureteral Stone)
  2. However, IV Contrast is recommended (esp. for surgical planning)
    1. Contrast is also needed to identify Aortic Dissection
  • Findings
  • Miscellaneous
  1. Mural thrombus
    1. Develops due to altered, turbulent vessel flow patterns in AAA (non-laminar flow)
  • References
  1. Tubbs and Janicki (2025) Mastering Emergency Imaging, CCME, accessed 7/9/2026
  2. Sparks (2002) Am Fam Physician 65(8):1565-70 [PubMed]