Background/Objectives: Pre-treatment depiction of the cervical arteries is important for better intra-arterial infusion therapy of malignant head and neck tumors. There have not been any studies on the image quality of ultra-high-resolution computed tomography (U-HRCT) for cervical CT angiography (CTA). The aim of this study is to evaluate the advantages of U-HRCT over conventional HRCT for cervical CTA; Methods: Forty-one patients underwent cervical CTA prior to selective intra-arterial infusion chemotherapy for malignant head and neck tumors. Twenty-two patients were scanned on conventional HRCT, while the remaining nineteen on U-HRCT. U-HRCT super-high-resolution (SHR) mode was used in 8 patients, while high-resolution (HR) mode was used in 11 patients. On CTA, the visibility of 18 branches from bilateral external carotid arteries was evaluated using a 5-point scale by three radiologists in consensus. Prior to the patient study, a head–neck CT phantom study regarding mock arterial density and its visibility was performed; Results: Regarding the patient study, the mean score of the SHR mode for visibility was significantly higher than that of conventional HRCT in 17 of 18 arteries (p< 0.05). The mean score of the HR mode for visibility was significantly higher than that of conventional HRCT in all arteries (p< 0.05). Regarding the phantom study, the maximum density of the SHR mode was significantly higher than that of conventional HRCT for mock proximal and peripheral arteries (p< 0.01). In addition, the visual score of the SHR mode for mock arteries was significantly higher than that of conventional HRCT (p< 0.05); Conclusions: U-HRCT provides higher image quality in terms of visualization of the arteries than conventional HRCT in cervical CTA.
背景/目的：治疗前对颈动脉进行显影对于头颈部恶性肿瘤的动脉内灌注治疗至关重要。目前尚无关于超高清分辨率计算机断层扫描（U-HRCT）在颈部CT血管造影（CTA）中图像质量的研究。本研究旨在评估U-HRCT相较于传统高分辨率CT（HRCT）在颈部CTA中的优势。方法：41例头颈部恶性肿瘤患者在选择性动脉内灌注化疗前接受了颈部CTA检查。其中22例患者采用传统HRCT扫描，其余19例采用U-HRCT扫描（8例使用超高分辨率模式，11例使用高分辨率模式）。由三位放射科医师采用5分制对双侧颈外动脉的18个分支血管显影清晰度进行一致性评估。在患者研究前，进行了头颈部CT体模研究，模拟动脉密度及其显影效果。结果：在患者研究中，超高分辨率模式在18条动脉中的17条显影评分显著高于传统HRCT（p<0.05）；高分辨率模式在所有动脉中的显影评分均显著高于传统HRCT（p<0.05）。在体模研究中，超高分辨率模式对模拟近端及外周动脉的最大密度值显著高于传统HRCT（p<0.01），且其模拟动脉的视觉评分也显著优于传统HRCT（p<0.05）。结论：在颈部CTA中，U-HRCT在动脉显影方面较传统HRCT提供更优的图像质量。
Cervical CT Angiography: The Advantage of Ultra-High-Resolution CT Versus Conventional HRCT
肿瘤(癌症)患者之家