Background: Contrast arteriography (CA) has been the traditional method of evaluation of patients with suspected aortoiliac occlusive disease (AIOD). Recently, less invasive methods, such as Doppler ultrasonography, have been used for the same purpose. Objective: The present study prospectively compares Doppler ultrasonography with CA and direct arterial manometry (DAM) in the preoperative evaluation of patients with suspected AIOD. Methods: A total of 125 patients admitted for treatment of arterial occlusive disease of the lower extremities underwent Doppler ultrasonography and CA, comparatively evaluating 552 aortic, common iliac e external iliac segments. The lesions found were classified into five categories: 1) normal and mild stenosis (0-19%); 2) moderate stenosis (20-49%); 3) significant stenosis (50-79%); 4) critical stenosis (80-99%); and 5) total occlusion. DAM was used in 19 segments of 15 patients to classify borderline lesions. Validity indexes (sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and overall accuracy) were calculated to distinguish hemodynamically significant from non-significant stenosis and to discriminate critical stenosis from total occlusions. The gold standard was CA, supplemented by DAM. Correlation coefficients (kappa statistics) between arteriography and Doppler ultrasonography were also calculated for the whole sample of aortoiliac segments. Results: Clinically relevant lesions (stenoses between 50-99% and total occlusions) were observed on Doppler ultrasonography in 163 segments (29.5%) and on CA in 158 segments (28.6%). Doppler ultrasonography showed high validity indexes to distinguish hemodynamically significant from non-significant lesions (overall accuracy = 92%; kappa = 0.81) and an overall accuracy of 86% (kappa = 0.73) to distinguish critical stenosis from total occlusion. Optimal correlation coefficients between the results of Doppler ultrasonography and CA were observed for all aortoiliac segments. Conclusion: Doppler ultrasonography has high validity indexes and optimal correlation coefficients with CA in the evaluation of patients with suspected AIOD.
Abdominal aorta; iliac artery; atherosclerosis; angiography; Doppler ultrasonography
