Diagnostic Comparison of the Radionuclide Imaging Modalities in the Pulmonary Embolism

Abstract

Aim: Special considerations have been made about the radionuclide imaging of pulmonary embolism in recent years with the recent viral pandemics. Besides increased frequency of the occlusive diseases including pulmonary embolism, the ventilation scintigraphy part of the radionuclide imaging modality was omitted. The aim of this study was to compare the accuracy of radionuclide diagnostic imaging modalities in diagnosis of pulmonary embolism. Materials and Methods: Two hundred and six patients (65 M, 131 F, 59.4 ± 16.9 years old) who were referred for the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism were evaluated retrospectively. The perfusion scintigraphy planar SPECT and SPECT/CT images of the patients were obtained and ventilation scintigraphy was performed in special circumstances. The imaging results were compared with clinical follow up results as the gold standard. Results: The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, negative and positive predictive value of the test were 97.5%, 92.9%, 95.63%, 95.16% and 96.34 respectively in diagnosis of pulmonary embolism. Conclusion: SPECT-CT perfusion imaging as single imaging modality has sufficient diagnostic accuracy in the pulmonary embolism according to the results of this study.

Keywords

• pulmonary embolism
• lung perfusion
• ventilation
• SPECT-CT

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