Panel Disdussion

3rd International Congress of of Nuclear Medicine & & 15th 15th Iranian Annual Annual Congress of
Congress of Nuclear Medicine
Shahid Beheshti Shahid Beheshti University University of Medical of Medical Sciences Sciences 19-21 19-21 May May 2011
Statistical Evaluation of Pulmonary Embolism with Lung
Ventilation-Perfusion Scan
Esmael Gharepapagh¹, Arman Salarifar 2
1 Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Department of Nuclear Medicine
2 Tabriz University of Medical Sciences
Background: Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a common fatal disease,
therefore, the accurate and prompt diagnosis is very important. The
aim of this study is evaluation of lung perfusion-ventilation scan with
relative radiodrugs including 99mTc-MAA and radioaerosols as a noninvasive
and readily available methods with acceptable sensitivity and
specificity in the diagnosis of PE.
Materials and Methods: In this study 149 patients with respiratory
problems, who had referred to the nuclear medicine department of
Tabriz Imam Hospital, from October 2005 to November 2006, were
studied. The perfusion scans performed after iv. injection of 99mTc-
MAA,and the ventilation scans performed after inhalation of 99mTc-
DTPA aerosol on the routine views of lungs. The resulting images
were evaluated by nuclear medicine specilalist regarding the
probabilities of PE. The relationship of sex, age, clinical presentations,
risk factors, previous cardio-pulmonary disorders and chest X-Rays of
the patients, with high and low probability of PE were also evaluated.
This study’s subjects were consisting of 78 men and 71 women who
were examined based on taking their medical history, studying their
medical files and evaluating their related documents.
Results: In the present study, it was discovered that the number of
involved men with PE was higher than women (P < 0.005), as the
patients get older, the incidence of PE becomes higher (P = 0.005),
there was a direct connection between the probability of PE and
having clinical presentations of their illness(P = 0.005).It was also
apparent that the existence of cardio-pulmonary disorders, having an
abnormal CXR and the lack of a risk factor, were all accompanied
with low probability of PE, but the presence or absence of risk factors
showed no meaningful difference for the high probability of PE (P =
0.232).
Conclusion: The lung perfusion-ventilation scan is recommended as
an acceptable method in the early diagnosis of PE and also evaluation
of prevalence and affecting factors of disease.
Key words: Lung perfusion-ventilation scan, pulmonary embolism
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