Digital venous angiography in the diagnosis of pulmonary thromboembolism

Twenty-five patients with the clinical suspicion of pulmonary thromboembolism underwent venous digital subtraction angiography (DSA) concurrently with selective conventional pulmonary angiography and the results were compared by two independent observers. Our conclusion is that venous DSA lacks adequate specificity and sensitivity for the diagnosis of pulmonary thromboembolism in subsegmental pulmonary arteries. Any benefit derived from this slightly less invasive technique is far outweighed by the decrease in technical detail when compared to the selective film screen method.