Computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA) has become the gold standard imaging technique in the evaluation of patients with suspected pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE).1 PTE – acute or chronic – is confirmed on CTPA by filling defects in the pulmonary arteries. Several factors, whether technical or diseaseor patient-related, can result in a suboptimal, low-quality CTPA, which can be misint...

BACKGROUND Computed tomographic pulmonary angiography (CTPA) may improve detection of life-threatening pulmonary embolism (PE), but this sensitive test may have a downside: overdiagnosis and overtreatment (finding clinically unimportant emboli and exposing patients to harms from unnecessary treatment). METHODS To assess the impact of CTPA on national PE incidence, mortality, and treatment com...

BACKGROUND Although complex scores were recommended for diagnosis of pulmonary embolism (PE), acceptance in clinical practice is limited. In our Emergency Department a symptom-based algorithm for patients with suspected PE including computed tomographic pulmonary angiography (CTPA) and D-dimer testing was implemented. PATIENTS AND METHODS The cases of 492 patients presenting with either chest...

Case report A 59-year-old woman with a past history of rheumatoid arthritis arrived in our Emergency Department via ambulance. Her husband stated she had suddenly “appeared very strange” whilst preparing to go out for the afternoon, but could not identify specific symptoms. Physical examination showed her to have sinus tachycardia and tachypnea, but little else of note. Her oxygen saturations h...

AIMS To determine if computed tomographic pulmonary angiography (CTPA) was overemployed in the evaluation of hospitalized patients with suspected acute pulmonary embolism (PE). METHODS Data were gathered retrospectively on hospitalized patients (n=185) who had CTPA for suspected PE between June and August 2009 at our institution. RESULTS CTPA was done in 185 hospitalized patients to diagnos...

BACKGROUND Patients with acute pulmonary embolism (APE) present with a broad spectrum of prognoses. Computed tomographic pulmonary angiography (CTPA) has progressively been established as a first line test in the APE diagnostic algorithm, but estimation of short term prognosis by this method remains to be explored. METHODS Eighty two patients admitted with APE were divided into three groups a...

Background: Patients with acute pulmonary embolism (APE) present with a broad spectrum of prognoses. Computed tomographic pulmonary angiography (CTPA) has progressively been established as a first line test in the APE diagnostic algorithm, but estimation of short term prognosis by this method remains to be explored. Methods: Eighty two patients admitted with APE were divided into three groups a...

conclusion there is still excessive unjustified concern of pte in less trained physicians leading to excessive diagnostic work-up. loyalty to the existing guideline for management of suspected pte in educational hospitals and supervision of attending physicians could prevent overuse of ctpa. results during a 6-month period, 82 patients who underwent ctpa were included. the prevalence of pte was...