OBJECTIVE: To compare examination volume and diagnostic yield of computed tomography (CT) pulmonary angiography (CTPA) and ventilation-perfusion (V/Q) scintigraphy for detection of suspected pulmonary embolism (PE) in emergency department patients. METHODS: Every CTPA and V/Q scan result for emergency department patients between October 2001 and September 2005 were reviewed. Patients with prior PE and follow-up examinations were excluded. RESULTS: A total of 3421 CTPA examinations and 198 V/Q scans met inclusion criteria. Average CTPA examinations completed per month increased 227%, from 33.4 to 109.2 for the first and last 24-month periods, respectively. Ventilation-perfusion scintigraphy volume decreased 80% (from 6.9 to 1.4 per month). Total diagnoses of PE per month increased 89% from 4.0 to 7.5, whereas the percentage of positive CTPA examinations dropped from 9.8% to 6.8%. CONCLUSIONS: Availability of CT in the emergency department and lower physician thresholds for test utilization have increased the use of CT pulmonary angiography and increased detection of PE.
OBJECTIVE: To compare examination volume and diagnostic yield of computed tomography (CT) pulmonary angiography (CTPA) and ventilation-perfusion (V/Q) scintigraphy for detection of suspected pulmonary embolism (PE) in emergency department patients. METHODS: Every CTPA and V/Q scan result for emergency department patients between October 2001 and September 2005 were reviewed. Patients with prior PE and follow-up examinations were excluded. RESULTS: A total of 3421 CTPA examinations and 198 V/Q scans met inclusion criteria. Average CTPA examinations completed per month increased 227%, from 33.4 to 109.2 for the first and last 24-month periods, respectively. Ventilation-perfusion scintigraphy volume decreased 80% (from 6.9 to 1.4 per month). Total diagnoses of PE per month increased 89% from 4.0 to 7.5, whereas the percentage of positive CTPA examinations dropped from 9.8% to 6.8%. CONCLUSIONS: Availability of CT in the emergency department and lower physician thresholds for test utilization have increased the use of CT pulmonary angiography and increased detection of PE.
Authors: Errol Colak; Felipe C Kitamura; Stephen B Hobbs; Carol C Wu; Matthew P Lungren; Luciano M Prevedello; Jayashree Kalpathy-Cramer; Robyn L Ball; George Shih; Anouk Stein; Safwan S Halabi; Emre Altinmakas; Meng Law; Parveen Kumar; Karam A Manzalawi; Dennis Charles Nelson Rubio; Jacob W Sechrist; Pauline Germaine; Eva Castro Lopez; Tomas Amerio; Pushpender Gupta; Manoj Jain; Fernando U Kay; Cheng Ting Lin; Saugata Sen; Jonathan Wesley Revels; Carola C Brussaard; John Mongan Journal: Radiol Artif Intell Date: 2021-01-20
Authors: Robert Russell Ehrman; Adrienne Nicole Malik; Reid Kenneth Smith; Zeid Kalarikkal; Andrew Huang; Ryan Michael King; Rubin David Green; Brian James O'Neil; Robert Leigh Sherwin Journal: Intern Emerg Med Date: 2021-03-20 Impact factor: 3.397