Fibromuscular dysplasia of the renal arteries: comparison of helical CT angiography and arteriography.

We evaluated the role of helical CT angiography rendering techniques in the assessment of renal artery fibromuscular dysplasia.Twenty hypertensive patients (mean age, 56 years) with angiographically proven renal artery fibromuscular dysplasia were studied by CT angiography. The acquisition protocol was collimation, 3 mm; table speed, 3 mm/sec; and incremental algorithm, one. Maximum-intensity-projection and shaded-surface-display reconstructions and transverse sections were reviewed by a consensus panel to determine the sensitivity and specificity of each technique in revealing renal artery fibromuscular dysplasia.Helical CT angiography enabled successful diagnosis of fibromuscular dysplasia in all 20 patients. Helical CT angiography showed 31 of 34 pathologic arteries and 33 of 38 lesions. Aneurysms (>6 mm) on arteriography (n = 12) were revealed in 83% of transverse sections, 75% of maximum-intensity-projection reconstructions, and 58% of shaded-surface-display reconstructions. Lesions that had a string...