Affiliations: [a] Department of Emergency Medicine (CVK, CCM) and Department of Cardiology (CVK), Charité Universitiy Medicine, Berlin, Germany
| [b] Department of Radiology, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| [c] Department of General, Visceral and Transplantation Surgery, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Markus H. Lerchbaumer, MD, Department of Radiology, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Charité Mitte, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany. Tel.: +49 (0)30 450 657084; Fax: +49 (0)30 450 7557901; E-mail: markus.lerchbaumer@charite.de.
Abstract: BACKGROUND:Median arcuate ligament syndrome (MALS) is a rare condition due to compression of the celiac artery (CA) by an anatomically abnormal median arcuate ligament. With ultrasonography (US) as first-line diagnostic modality in patients with unclear abdominal pain, there is limited data on its diagnostic performance in MALS. OBJECTIVE:To investigate the value of CA peak systolic velocity (PSV) in the workup of patients with suspected MALS. METHODS:Patients with diagnosis of MALS between 2009 and 2019 were referred by Department of Visceral Surgery after clinical and gastroenterological workup. Diagnosis was confirmed by surgery or further cross-sectional imaging. B-mode US findings and PSV in the CA during various respiratory states were compared between patients with a final MALS diagnosis and patients not meeting the diagnostic criteria. RESULTS:Patients with proven MALS (n = 10) had higher median CA PSV during normal inspiratory breath-hold (239 [IQR, 159–327] vs. 138 [IQR, 116–152] cm/s; p < #x003C;< #x200A;0.001), and expiratory breath-hold (287 [IQR, 191–412] vs. 133 [IQR, 115–194] cm/s; p < #x003C;< #x200A;0.001) compared to patients without MALS (n = 26). CA PSV in both inspiratory breath-hold (AUC 0.88, 95% CI 0.77–1.00) and expiratory breath-hold (AUC 0.89, 95% CI 0.78–1.00) was of diagnostic value for confirming MALS. The best diagnostic performance (100% sensitivity, 80% specificity) was found for the combination of CA PSVexpiration + 2.4 · PSVinspiration > 550 cm/s . CONCLUSIONS:Since results on optimal cutoff values are inconsistent, a combination of CA PSVs during breathing maneuvers may help to diagnose or rule out MALS.
