Combined ventilation-perfusion scintigraphy for demonstratio of pulmonary embolism

In 34 patients with suggested pulmonary emboli, ventilation scintigraphy with 133Xe and perfusion scintigraphy with 99Tcm-labelled albumin spheres were carried out. The combined ventilation-perfusion scintigraphy had a significantly higher diagnostic specificity (1.0, confidence limit 0.69-1.0) than perfusion scintigraphy alone (0.48, 0.26-0.70). Both methods had a diagnostic sensitivity of 1.0.