Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 22, 2026
Multi-modal Pulmonary Imaging: Using Complementary Information from CT and Hyperpolarized 129Xe MRI to Evaluate Lung Structure-Function
Published on: April 12, 2024
Comparison of lung scintigraphy with multi-slice spiral computed tomography in the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism
1Department of Nuclear Medicine, Cardiovascular Institute and Fu Wai Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
Purpose:
To compare the diagnostic efficacy of lung perfusion scans combined with ventilation (V/Q) scans and/or chest radiography (CR) with contrast-enhanced multislice spiral CT pulmonary angiography (CTPA) in diagnosing pulmonary embolism (PE).
Materials And Methods:
Eighty-two consecutive patients with suspected PE underwent CTPA, lung perfusion scan, and CR. Of them, 28 patients underwent V/Q scans. The final diagnosis was made using a composite reference test.
Results:
The overall sensitivity and specificity were 89.2% and 92.1% for V/Q scan or perfusion scan combined with CR, and 97.3% and 97.4% for CTPA. For the 28 patients with V/Q scan, the sensitivity and specificity were 91.7% and 92.9% for V/Q scan, and 91.7% and 100.0% for CTPA. The segmental agreement rate between perfusion scan and CTPA was 69.5% (kappa = 0.30, P < 0.05). The perfusion scan revealed significantly more subsegmental abnormalities than CTPA (59 vs. 10, chi2 test, P < 0.05).
Conclusions:
V/Q scan, perfusion scan combined with CR and CTPA all show high efficacy in diagnosing PE. V/Q scan or perfusion scan combined with CR is as accurate as CTPA.
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