Coarctation of the aorta in adults: preoperative evaluation with multidetector CT angiography

To evaluate the reliability of 16-slice multidetector computed tomographic (MDCT) angiography for the preoperative morphologic assessment of coarctation of the aorta in adults. Twenty-four adult patients with clinical suspicion of coarctation of the aorta who underwent both Doppler echocardiography and MDCT angiography were included in this study. The sensitivities of diagnosis were assessed comparing MDCT and Doppler echocardiography with surgical results. The overall sensitivity of three-dimensional MDCT for diagnosis of the coarctation of the aorta was 100%, which was higher than that of Doppler echocardiography (91%). The overall sensitivity of MDCT for the assessment of cardiac defects was 82%, which was lower than that of Doppler echocardiography (100%). MDCT angiography with multiplanar and three-dimensional techniques should be the method of choice for preoperative morphologic assessment of coarctation of the aorta in adult patients.