Emission tomography in embolic lung disease.

Ventilation-perfusion lung scans and emission tomography studies were performed in 84 patients with suspected embolic lung disease. Concordant data were obtained in 72 patients (57 positive, 15 negative); results were discordant in ten patients and indeterminate in two. Although the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism with the conventional two-dimensional planar projections of standard ventilation-perfusion lung scans is still the mainstay, a greater sensitivity in lesion detection can be expected with multiplane detection imaging.