Pulmonary embolism: segmental appearance of perfusion lung scan defects correlates with successful response to thrombolytic therapy.
Lung scan data from a series of 45 patients receiving thrombolytic therapy were reviewed to determine if any pattern on the pretherapy perfusion lung scans could be identified that predicted response to therapy. A segmental appearance on the pretherapy scans (complete or nearly complete absence of perfusion in a whole segment or a very large subsegment) was correlated with the amount of improvement in perfusion on lung scans obtained 24 hours after the start of thrombolytic therapy. As a group, patients with a segmental appearance on the pretherapy lung scans had more improvement in the perfusion reduction score than patients with a nonsegmental appearance (P less than .005). However, the correlation between segmental appearance and a favorable response to thrombolytic therapy was not strong enough to allow use of this appearance in the selection of patients for therapy.
Parker
J A
JA
Department of Radiology, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, MA 02215.
Nagel
J S
JS
Drum
D E
DE
Tumeh
S S
SS
Goldhaber
S Z
SZ
D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011336:Probability; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000188:drug therapy; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000627:therapeutic use; D013668:Technetium Tc 99m Aggregated Albumin; D015912:Thrombolytic Therapy; D010959:Tissue Plasminogen Activator / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014568:Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014692:Ventilation-Perfusion Ratio
D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D013668:Technetium Tc 99m Aggregated Albumin; D010959:Tissue Plasminogen Activator; D014568:Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator