Critical review of SPECT imaging in pulmonary embolism

Paul D. Stein, Henry Dirk Sostman, Fadi Matta

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Outcome studies have shown that pulmonary embolism can be safely excluded in patients with negative ventilation/perfusion (V/Q) single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). The effective radiation dose of V/Q SPECT is much less than with computed tomographic (CT) pulmonary angiography, which would make it preferable to CT angiography in many young female patients. The accuracy of V/Q SPECT, however, is difficult to assess, because most published investigations are limited by incorporation bias or partial verification bias, as well as other limitations in study design and reporting. Consequently, the accuracy of V/Q SPECT relative to planar V/Q scintigraphy or CT angiography has not been definitively determined. There is need for a prospective investigation of the accuracy of V/Q SPECT with consecutive patients, blinded interpretations, and an independent reference standard, or independent composite reference standard.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)379-390
Number of pages12
JournalClinical and Translational Imaging
Volume2
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 25 2014

Keywords

  • Pulmonary embolism
  • Single-photon emission computed tomography
  • Venous thromboembolism

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging

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