[Intravenous digital angiography of pulmonary circulation]

Intravenous digital angiography was performed in 92 patients with pulmonary diseases. The examination yielded satisfactory results in 82/92 cases (89%). The most promising fields of application of pulmonary digital angiography are: vascular malformations (3 cases: 3%), pulmonary emphysema (24 cases: 26%) and pulmonary embolism (38 cases: 41%). In tumoral masses (14 cases: 15%) digital angiography showed dislocation of the surrounding pulmonary vessels but failed to demonstrate the intrinsic vascularity of the mass, deriving from the bronchial arteries. In post-lobectomy controls (10 cases: 11%) the examination gave a good demonstration of the absence of vascular supply at the site of the previous surgery. Intravenous digital angiography shows many technical limitations, namely a reduced resolution power and a small field of view; in addition, it requires patient immobility, which results sometimes impossible in critically ill patients. In spite of these inconvenients, however, intravenous digital angiography appears to be an important diagnostic step for the evaluation of pulmonary embolism and vascular malformations: in these conditions, digital angiography can be the procedure of choice.