To investigate the imaging manifestations and diagnostic significance of multislice spiral CT angiography for aortic intramural hematoma.

Forty-three patients with aortic intramural hematoma who received digital subtraction angiography or multislice spiral CT angiography in Yiwu Central Hospital from November 2017 to September 2018 were included in this study. The misdiagnosis rate and image quality were compared between the two imaging examination methods.

The misdiagnosis rate of digital subtraction angiography was 6.98% (3/43) and that of multislice spiral CT angiography was 4.65% (2/43). There was no significant difference in the misdiagnosis rate between the two methods (P > 0.05). The numbers of patients receiving multislice spiral CT angiography with grade III image quality ( n = 4) and grade IV image quality (n = 2) were lower than those of patients receiving digital subtraction angiography (χ² = 3.957 and 4.074, both P < 0.05). There were no significant difference in the numbers of patients with grade I and II image quality between the two methods (both P > 0.05). Multislice spiral CT angiography showed that among 43 patients, 18 patients had non-ulcerative aortic wall hematoma, 25 patients had ulcerative aortic wall hematoma. Among patients with aortic wall hematoma, 14 patients had moderate or more amount of pleural effusion, with the average thickness of hematoma tissue of 11.42 mm, the maximum diameter of the involved ascending aorta of 56 mm, and the maximum diameter of the involved descending aorta of 44 mm.

Multislice spiral CT angiography is superior to digital subtraction angiography in the diagnosis of aortic wall hematoma because it provides clearer images, which can help better present lesion changes.

Aortic diseases; Hematoma; Angiography, digital subtraction; Angiography; Tomography, spiral computed; Image interpretation, computer-assisted; Diagnosis; Comparative study