Evaluation of popliteal arteries with CT angiography in popliteal artery entrapment syndrome

Background: Popliteal artery entrapment is an uncommon clinical entity that occurs due to compression of the popliteal artery by adjacent muscle and tendinous structures. Early diagnosis should be established through a combined approach of careful physical examination and history-taking, duplex Ultrasonography, and CT angiography. Patients and methods: We have studied retrospectively 16 patients of popliteal artery entrapment syndrome, 9 men and 7 women. All patients were scanned with a scanner Picker PQ 5000 after bolus injection of nonionic contrast medium and they all underwent a two-part examination first, with the knee in a neutral position, and, second, with the knee hyperextended. Results: At the second phase of the examination 3 patients showed normal findings, 10 patients have shown mild stenosis of the popliteal artery or more severe stenosis due to compression, 2 patients have exhibited bilateral stenosis and I patient has also showed popliteal venous compression Conclusion: CT angiography images and three-dimensional images are Useful not only for depiction of the arterial changes but also identification of the abnormal anatomic structures responsible for the entrapment. Hippokratia 2009; 13 (1): 32-37