[Evaluation of right heart load with spiral CT in patients with acute lung embolism].
OBJECTIVE
Purpose of this study was to evaluate whether spiral-CT allows judgment of right ventricular failure in patients with acute pulmonary embolism.


METHODS
61 patients underwent spiral-CT due to suspicion of acute pulmonary embolism. Patients with pulmonary embolism were divided into subpopulations according to the severity of pulmonary embolism in the CT scan. Cardiac measurements were performed on axial spiral-CT images and compared to those of patients without suspicion of pulmonary embolism or cardiac diseases.


RESULTS
In 30 patients spiral-CT revealed acute pulmonary embolism. Significant differences in cardiac measurements in patients with severe and less severe pulmonary embolism were found on comparing the following dimensions: left ventricular width (p = 0.0003), left (p = 0.008) and right (p = 0.009) ventricular cross-sectional area, proportion of right to left ventricular width (p = 0.0003) and proportion of right to left ventricular cross-sectional area (p = 0.0001). The proportion of the cross-sectional areas (r = 0.65) and the proportion of the width (r = 0.60) of both ventricles correlated well with the severity of central pulmonary embolism.


CONCLUSIONS
Besides reliable assessment of pulmonary embolism spiral-CT allows the evaluation of cardiac dimensions for judgment of right ventricular failure.
Institut für Radiologische Diagnostik, Klinikum Grosshadern, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. wintersperger@ikra.med.uni-muenchen.de
B J
BJ
Wintersperger
A
A
Stäbler
M
M
Seemann
N
N
Holzknecht
T
T
Helmberger
U
U
Fink
M F
MF
Reiser
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002306:Cardiac Volume / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011660:Pulmonary Heart Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D018497:Ventricular Dysfunction, Right / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left / Q000502:physiology; D016278:Ventricular Function, Right / Q000502:physiology
Beurteilung der Rechtsherzbelastung in der Spiral-CT bei Patienten mit akuter Lungenembolie.