Normative Computed Tomography Angiography Values of the Aortic Root, Aorta and Aortic arch in Children

Abstract

Purpose Normative values for intracardiac and extracardiac vascular structures help in understanding normal growth and changes over time in children; this normative data are not currently available for ECG-gated Computed Tomography Angiography (CTA). We sought to establish ECG-gated CTA derived normative values for the aortic root, aorta and aortic arch in children. Methods and Results Aortic root, ascending aorta, aortic arch, and descending aorta were measured in systole and diastole in 100 subjects who had ECG-gated CTA at our center between January 2015 through December 2020 and met our inclusion criteria. The allometric exponent (AE) for each parameter was derived, and the parameter/body surface area^AE (BSA^AE) was established using the previously described methods. Using this data, normalized mean, cross-sectional area, and standard deviation were calculated. Z-score curves were plotted in relation to the BSA for all measurements. Conclusion Our study reports systolic and diastolic ECG-gated CTA Z-scores along with normative curves in relation to BSA for the aortic root, aorta and aortic arch in children.