Stripe sign in pulmonary embolism: a review of the causes.

The most common indication for radionuclide imaging of lungs is the evaluation of suspected pulmonary thromboembolism (PE). Scintigraphically PE classically produces ventilation/perfusion mismatch, that is perfusion defects in areas showing normal ventilation. Stripe sign refers to the visualization a stripe at normally perfused lung interposed between a defect and adjacent pleural surfaces as originally described by Gottschalk. In the present case the authors describe a patient with a ventilation/perfusion scan suggesting PE. She also had a stripe sign on the perfusion scan with normal ventilation. On the follow-up perfusion scintigraphy, normal perfusion was seen in the corresponding area. The literature on stripe sign is also reviewed.