Clinical physiology and functional imaging
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Clin Physiol Funct Imaging · Sep 2004
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialDiagnostic evaluation of planar and tomographic ventilation/perfusion lung images in patients with suspected pulmonary emboli.
Planar lung ventilation/perfusion scintigraphy (V/P(PLANAR)) is a standard method for diagnosis of pulmonary embolism (PE). The goals of this study were to test whether the diagnostic information of ventilation/perfusion tomography (V/P(SPET)) applied in clinical routine might enhance information compared with V/P(PLANAR) and to streamline data processing for the demands of clinical routine. This prospective study includes 53 patients suspected for PE referred for lung scintigraphy. ⋯ Ancillary findings were observed by both techniques in half of the patients but more precisely interpreted with V/P(SPET). V/P(SPET) shows more and better delineated mismatch defects, improved quantification and less interobserver variation compared with V/P(PLANAR). V/P(SPET) is amenable to implementation for clinical routine and suitable even when there is demand for a high patient throughput.