Pedal artery imaging using DSA, CE-MRA and duplex.

Diabetic macroangiopathy is associated with a typical disease pattern, mostly affecting the tibial but sparing the pedal arteries. Bypass grafts to these patent pedal vessels have evolved into a feasible technique. Restoring a palpable pulse in the ischemic foot they create the prerequisite to heal an ulcer or gangrene. Preoperative evaluation of pedal arteries demands a detailed depiction of the entire pedal vascular system. At present, the main options for preoperative pedal artery imaging are selective DSA contrast enhanced MRA and Duplex ultrasound. The aim of this review article is to give a survey of these three techniques and to determine their potential to depict pedal run off vessels. Selective DSA is still the standard diagnostic tool in preoperative pedal artery imaging. CE MRA offers high contrast related resolution but in-plane resolution is inferior to the concurrent imaging techniques. Duplex is the preferable method to evaluate a pedal artery's diameter and morphology. Both, CE MRA and Duplex are worthwhile additional imaging techniques in case DSA did not sufficiently depict the pedal vasculature.