Aortography for detecting
hemorrhage is limited when determining the
catheter treatment strategy because the artery responsible for
hemorrhage commonly overlaps organs and non-responsible arteries. Selective catheterization of untargeted arteries would result in repeated arteriography, large volumes of contrast medium, and extended time. A volume-rendered
hemorrhage-responsible arteriogram created with 64 multidetector-row CT (64MDCT) during aortography (MDCTAo) can be used both for
hemorrhage mapping and
catheter navigation. The MDCTAo depicted
hemorrhage in 61 of 71 cases of suspected acute arterial
bleeding treated at our institute in the last 3 years. Complete hemostasis by embolization was achieved in all cases. The
hemorrhage-responsible arteriogram was used for navigation during catheterization, thus assisting successful embolization.
Hemorrhage was not visualized in the remaining 10 patients, of whom 6 had a
pseudoaneurysm in a visceral artery; 1 with urinary bladder
bleeding and 1 with chest wall
hemorrhage had gaze tamponade; and 1 with urinary bladder
hemorrhage and 1 with
uterine hemorrhage had
spastic arteries. Six patients with
pseudoaneurysm underwent preventive embolization and the other 4 patients were managed by watchful observation. MDCTAo has the advantage of depicting the arteries responsible for
hemoptysis, whether from the bronchial arteries or other systemic arteries, in a single scan. MDCTAo is particularly useful for identifying the source of acute arterial
bleeding in the pancreatic arcade area, which is supplied by both the celiac and superior mesenteric arteries. In a case of pelvic
hemorrhage, MDCTAo identified the responsible artery from among numerous overlapping visceral arteries that branched from the internal iliac arteries. In conclusion, a
hemorrhage-responsible arteriogram created by 64MDCT immediately before catheterization is useful for deciding the
catheter treatment strategy for acute arterial
bleeding.