CT imaging of acute pulmonary embolism

Suction/Inspiration against resistance or standardized Mueller maneuver : a new breathing technique to improve contrast density within the pulmonary artery: a pilot CT study

“…In fact, in our own study group, suction against resistance leads to more elevated mean attenuation values (432 Fig. 3 Radio-density (HU) mean of the whole pulmonary vessel system: pulmonary trunk, right and left pulmonary artery, right and left lower lobe pulmonary artery, and right and left lower lobe pulmonary posterior segmental pulmonary artery and breathing methods +20 mmHg Valsalva (1), -10 mmHg suction (2), inspiration stop (3), and expiration stop (4). Boxes show the median and the 25th and 75th percentile, whiskers show 10th and 90th percentile HU) in all pulmonary vessels compared to Valsalva, inspiration and expiration (between 298 and 402 HU according to the different breathing maneuvers).…”

“…4 Radio-density (HU) of the central parts of the pulmonary vessel system: mean of pulmonary trunk, right and left pulmonary artery and breathing methods +20 mmHg Valsalva (1), -10 mmHg suction (2), inspiration stop (3), and expiration stop (4). Boxes show the median and the 25th and 75th percentile, whiskers show 10th and 90th percentile As a result, the inflow of the contrasted SVC blood and non-contrasted IVC blood flow is minimized, leading to a more homogenous and concentrated contrast in the pulmonary artery diaphragm.…”

“…Contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) angiography is the internationally accepted gold standard for the examination of patients with suspected pulmonary embolism [4].…”

Multiple simultaneous venous and arterial thromboses in a patient with factor V Leiden disorder: Detection by multislice computed tomography

“…Recent improvements in MDCT technology confer the highest diagnostic accuracy in diagnosis of venous thromboembolism with respect to other imaging modalities such as scintigraphy, angiography, magnetic resonance imaging, and Doppler ultrasonography [12]. Recently, Hadizadeh et al [13] evaluated the potential role of magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) with blood pool contrast agent for simultaneous assessment of arteries and veins and demonstrated that MRA can detect concomitant venous disease aff ecting therapeutic management.…”

The efficacy of CT for detection of right ventricular dysfunction in acute pulmonary embolism, and comparison with cardiac biomarkers

“…Computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA) has become the recommended method for diagnosis of PE in clinical practice and, since the introduction of new-generation multi-detector CT devices, it has replaced ventilation-perfusion scintigraphy and catheter pulmonary angiography as the primary imaging method for visualization of pulmonary vascular structures [3,4]. Patients with acute PE who also have right ventricular dysfunction (RVD) have a worse prognosis [5].…”