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Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Signal Acquisition, Score Interpretation, and Economics of a Non-Invasive Point-of-Care Test for Coronary Artery Disease
Published on: August 9, 2024
Examination of hospital referral practices for CT pulmonary angiography
Cristin A Kiley1, Kristie J Lowry, Vincent Mysliwiec
1Madigan Army Medical Center. cristin.kiley@us.army.mil
Abstract:
Guidelines for the evaluation of venous thromboembolism (VTE) include a history and physical examination in conjunction with computed tomographic pulmonary angiography (CTPA), Doppler ultrasonography, and D-dimer measurements. We performed a retrospective analysis to evaluate the diagnostic yield of CTPA at our facility. Patients between the ages of 18 and 100 with a CTPA completed through the emergency department and/or any inpatient service over a 6-month period were reviewed and a retrospective Simplified Wells Score was calculated. Three hundred and three patients underwent CTPA for acute VTE. A Simplified Wells Score was calculated for 279 subjects, with a mean score of 1.6 +/- 1.6. Twenty CTPA procedures demonstrated VTE, a positive rate of 7.2%, which was lower than expected. This result likely reflects lack of adherence to a clinical algorithm for assessment of VTE and an overly cautious approach to symptom evaluation.
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