Assessment of Inferior Vena Cava Abnormalities with Multi Detector Computed Tomography, MAI E.M. KHAMIS and AHMED A. EL-SAMMAK
Abstract
Objective: To illustrate the different abnormalities affecting the IVC that can be diagnosed by MDCT.
Material and Methods: This study included 20 patients (13 males and 7 females) in the time from August 2014 till April 2015, their age ranged between 25 to 50 years (mean 38.9).
Results: The most common IVC pathology in our study were IVC thrombus either tumor thrombus extending from HCC (7 cases) or bland thrombus (3 cases). Two cases with bland thrombus were diagnosed in anatomically normally located IVC and one case was diagnosed in a patient with double IVC (with retroaortic right Renal Vein and Hemiazygos continuation of the IVC). The next most common IVC pathol-ogy in our study was Budd-Chiari syndrome (diagnosed in 7 cases). Two cases with double IVC and one case with IVC leiomyosarcoma were diagnosed in our study.
Conclusion: MDCT can adequately detect pathologic conditions affecting the IVC. Advantages of MDCT include superior spatial resolution; very fast image acquisition; and evaluation of adjacent and distant organs with one single imaging technique, which is critical in patients with tumor involving the IVC.