[Angiography and perfusion pulmonary scintigraphy in pulmonary embolism]

Clinical signs suggestive of pulmonary embolism require diagnostic confirmation from complementary scintigraphic and/or angiographic examinations, therapy being adapted to the results obtained. A comparative study of the value of the two techniques was conducted in 20 patients with suspected pulmonary embolism investigated by a perfusion pulmonary scan and selective pulmonary angiography. Results confirmed the diagnostic superiority of angiography, the high percentage of false positives obtained by perfusion scintigraphy alone indicating the need for associated ventilatory function tests.