Symptomology of celiac artery compression: Classifying patients by the degree of celiac artery stenosis and secondary changes in collateral branches on computed tomography angiogram

Abstract

PurposeThis study aimed to analyze the correlation between the degree of celiac artery (CA) stenosis and the secondary changes in collateral branches in patients with CA compression (CAC) by CT and to classify patients by the combination of the two imaging features. MethodsPatients with CAC identified by contrast-enhanced CT from January 2012 to December 2013 were retrospectively enrolled and divided into the symptomatic group and asymptomatic group. CA stenosis was categorized as mild, moderate, or severe, and collateral circulation as invisible, visible, or prominent. The correlation between the imaging features was analyzed with Kendall’s Tau-b. Multivariate regression identified risk factors for symptomatic CAC. And patients were further classified into three subtypes (Type A to C) based on CA stenosis and collateral circulation. ResultsThis study included 150 patients (79 men, 71 women), with 49 (32.7 %) symptomatic. The collateral circulation classification correlated with the CA stenosis (Tau-b = 0.295, p < 0.001). And both imaging features were proven to be independent risk factors for the symptomatic CAC (all p < 0.05). Of the three subtypes of patients, only one patient with Type A (1/26 [3.8 %]) was symptomatic; a small proportion of patients with Type B (23/99 [23.2 %]) were symptomatic; and all patients with Type C (25/25 [100 %]) were symptomatic. ConclusionsThe development of collateral circulation is positively correlated with the degree of CA stenosis. Our proposed classification system based on the combination of the degree of CA stenosis and collateral circulation helps to identify patients with symptomatic CAC.