MDCT of 220 consecutive patients with suspected acute pulmonary embolism: incidence of pulmonary embolism and of other acute or non-acute thoracic findings
UMass Chan Affiliations
Department of RadiologyDepartment of Cell Biology
Information Services, Academic Computing Services
Document Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2008-05-22Keywords
AdolescentAdult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Female
Humans
Incidence
Italy
Lung Diseases
Male
Middle Aged
Predictive Value of Tests
Pulmonary Embolism
Radiographic Image Enhancement
Retrospective Studies
Sensitivity and Specificity
Tomography, Spiral Computed
Life Sciences
Medicine and Health Sciences
Technology and Innovation
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
PURPOSE: This study was undertaken to evaluate the incidence of pulmonary embolism (PE) and other clinically relevant thoracic findings discovered on contrast-enhanced multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) examination in patients with a suspicion of acute PE. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 220 reports of 40-row MDCT exams in consecutive patients (101 men, 119 women; mean age 55 years+/-18) suspected for acute PE. Presenting symptoms and risk factors were recorded. Image quality and incidence of PE and other clinically relevant thoracic findings were evaluated. RESULTS: MDCT were diagnostic in 96.8% of patients. Nineteen patients (8.6%) were positive for PE. Signs and symptoms were present in 82.7% (182) and risk factors in 38.2% (84) of the population. Clinically relevant thoracic findings were detected in 45.9% (101) of the patients. Ten patients had PE and other thoracic findings. Half of the patients (110) had neither PE nor other clinically relevant thoracic findings. CONCLUSIONS: Chest MDCT, with an excellent overall image quality, provided an explanation for the clinical presentation in about 50% of emergency department patients studied and was useful in detecting PE and other thoracic diseases with symptoms mimicking PE. However, half of the exams were negative.Source
Radiol Med. 2008 Apr;113(3):373-84. Epub 2008 Jul 9. Link to article on publisher's siteDOI
10.1007/s11547-008-0262-9Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/35336PubMed ID
18493774Related Resources
Link to Article in PubMedae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1007/s11547-008-0262-9