Helical CT angiography of abdominal aortic aneurysms treated with suprarenal stent grafting.

The endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) with stent grafts is rapidly becoming an important alternative to open repair. Suprarenal stent grafting, recently modified from conventional infrarenal stent grafting, is a technique for the purpose of treating patients with inappropriate aneurysm necks. Unlike open repair, the success of endoluminal repair cannot be ascertained by means of direct examination and thus relies on imaging results. The use of conventional angiography for arterial imaging has become less dominant, while helical computed tomography angiography (CTA) has become the imaging modality of choice for both preoperative assessment and postoperative followup after treatment with stent graft implants. There is an increasing likelihood that radiologists will become more and more involved in the procedure of aortic stent grafting and in giving the radiological report on these patients treated with stent grafts. It is necessary for radiologists to be familiar with the imaging findings, including common and uncommon appearances following aortic stent grafting. The purpose of this pictorial essay is to describe and present normal and abnormal imaging appearances following aortic stent grafting based on helical CTA.