Vascular imaging
Vascular imaging, including CT angiography (CTA), MR angiography (MRA), and catheter angiography are a big part of neuroradiology. When vascular abnormalities are suspected because of clinical exam or findings on other imaging, such as CT or MRI, angiographic exams provide a dedicated way to look for abnormalities in the vasculature. The most common indications for vascular imaging are stroke, subarachnoid hemorrhage, or suspected vascular anomaly/malformation.
Vascular capstone course
Most of the information on vascular imaging and pathology on this site is part of the vascular capstone course. This is a collaborative course I put together with Dr. Cynthia Wu for Emory University 4th year medical students. This course is divided into a couple of parts, including:
- introduction
- vascular imaging techniques
- guide to when you might order these specific studies
- a basic search pattern for looking at a CTA of the head and neck
- review of vascular pathologies
- 4 sample interactive cases
The full capstone page has links to the sample scrollable cases that we use for the course as well as some questions you can go through as you review the images. Scroll through the cases and see if you can answer the questions.
General vascular topics
These videos address general approaches to vascular imaging, including search patterns and ways you might approach studies.
Circle of Willis Overview
Reviews the anatomy of the Circle of Willis, or the confluence of the internal cerebral and basilar arteries within the brain. Learn the normal anatomy, some common variants you may encounter, and a few less common variants.
How to read a CTA of the Head and Neck
In this video, learn how to look at a CT angiogram of the head and neck from start to finish so you can learn how to do it yourself. There are interactive examples that you can follow along on the vascular capstone page.
Vascular pathology
These videos address common vascular pathology, including aneurysms, vascular malformations, and specific ways to identify pathology.
Intracranial aneurysms
Review intracranial aneurysms, including an overview of what an aneurysm is, how to find them, and tips for searching for aneurysms. The first part of this video covers general principles of aneurysm evaluation and the second part shows 3 sample cases that you can go through to test your individual skills.
Improve your aneurysm search pattern
This video gives you 5 quick tips that you might use to improve your brain aneurysm search pattern on CT angiograms of the brain.
Brain vascular malformations
Learn the most common vascular malformations and reviews the most common grading system for arteriovenous malformations (AVMs), the Spetzler-Martin grading scale.
Stroke vascular distributions
This video reviews vascular territories in the brain as well as typical appearance of acute infarcts. This covers the distribution of the anterior cerebral artery (ACA), middle cerebral artery (MCA), posterior cerebral artery (PCA), cerebellar arteries, and basilar artery.
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