The application of intraarterial digital subtraction angiography to neurosurgical operation

Intraarterial digital subtraction angiography (DSA) was applied 259 times to 203 neurosurgical patients. In cases with cerebral occlusive diseases, the circulatory dynamics could be recognized more accurately by DSA, which showed not only the location and the distance of the occlusive vessels, but also the collateral circulation. By the results of the DSA, the choice of operative treatment, that is, endarterectomy or the construction of bypass with interposed graft, could be planned preoperatively. The stereoscopic DSA, with the images subtracted by the arterial or capillary phase, could demonstrate more obviously the anatomical locations of the cerebral arteriovenous malformations and normal vasculatures. Also, the tumor blushes and the sinuses are more detectable in DSA than in the conventional angiography. The intraarterial DSA is thought to be helpful for the choice of the neurosurgical operations. (author)