Computed tomography angiography for detection of middle meningeal artery lesions associated with acute epidural hematomas.

BACKGROUND: The natural history of traumatic aneurysms of the middle meningeal artery (MMA) is not well known, but patients with these lesions are more likely to have delayed bleeds. In this paper, we described a series of patients with epidural hematoma who underwent angiotomography (CTA) for MMA vascular lesion diagnosis.

METHODS: Eleven patients admitted to our emergency unit with small acute epidural hematoma were prospectively studied. All patients with temporal acute epidural hematomas underwent CTA and cerebral angiogram at our institution for diagnosis of posttraumatic lesions of middle meningeal artery. The findings of angiotomography and digital angiography were reviewed by radiologist and angiographers, respectively, to ensure that the lesions were readily diagnosed without knowing the results of angiotomography and to compare CTA findings with standard angiogram.

RESULTS: The causes of head injury were traffic accidents, falls, and aggression. Three of these patients presented traumatic MMA pseudoaneurysm. CT angiography was able to diagnose all of them, with dimensions ranging from 1.5 to 2.8 mm. Conventional angiography confirmed the findings of CT angiography, and the lesions presented with similar dimensions at both methods.

CONCLUSIONS: We believe that angiotomography can be a useful technique for diagnosis of vascular lesion associated with small epidural hematoma.