Accessory left gastric artery from left hepatic artery shown on MDCT and conventional angiography: correlation with...

The objective of our study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of MDCT and conventional angiography in the detection of an accessory left gastric artery using CT hepatic arteriography as the standard of reference.

The study group consisted of 118 patients who underwent MDCT with a triple-phase liver protocol with a slice thickness of 5 mm, conventional angiography, and CT hepatic arteriography. The early-phase images of MDCT and conventional angiography were retrospectively reviewed. The presence or absence of an accessory left gastric artery was evaluated using CT hepatic arteriography as the standard of reference. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of MDCT and conventional angiography were calculated.

CT hepatic arteriography revealed an accessory left gastric artery in 25 (21.2%) of 118 cases, including 15 proximal- and 10 distal-type accessory left gastric arteries. On MDCT, there were seven false-negative cases and one false-positive case. Six of the seven false-negative cases were a proximal-type accessory left gastric artery, and nine of 10 distal-type accessory left gastric arteries were correctly diagnosed using MDCT. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of MDCT were 72.0%, 98.9%, and 93.2%, respectively. On conventional angiography, there were three false-negative and two false-positive cases, none of whom underwent selective left hepatic arteriography. Two of the three false-negative cases were the distal-type accessory left gastric artery, but eight of the 10 distal-type accessory left gastric arteries were correctly diagnosed. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of conventional angiography were 88.0%, 97.8%, and 95.8%, respectively.

Approximately 70% of accessory left gastric arteries can be diagnosed at the early phase of MDCT even with a slice thickness of 5 mm.