The place of indirect venography tests after pulmonary computed tomography angiography in the diagnosis of pulmonary thromboemboli.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effectiveness of indirect computed tomography (CT) venography applied after pulmonary CT angiography to patients with suspected pulmonary embolism.


METHODS
The study comprised 80 patients at high/moderate risk of pulmonary embolism (PE) according to the clinical findings. Computed tomography venography (CTV) was performed 3-3.5 minutes after taking pulmonary CTA images. Color Doppler ultrasonography (CDUS) of the lower extremities was applied to all patients before pulmonary CTA or within 24 hours after CTA.


RESULTS
Pulmonary embolism was determined in a total of 19 patients (23%). Six patients had deep venous thrombosis on CTV examination even though the CDUS findings were normal. Accepting color Doppler ultrasonography findings as the gold standard, the sensitivity of CTV in determining deep vein thrombosis (DVT) was found to be 100%, specificity 91%, positive predictive value 60%, negative predictive value 100%, likelihood of giving a positive result 11.1, and likelihood of giving a negative result 0. There was a statistically significant good degree of correlation between the two methods (r = 0.741, p < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Computed tomography venography examination applied after pulmonary CTA is a fast imaging technique that has high diagnostic value and can be an alternative to CDUS, especially when CDUS is insufficient in application and evaluation.
Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylül University, İzmir, Turkey.
Oguzhan
O
Karaoglu
Department of Pulmonology, Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylül University, İzmir, Turkey.
Kemal Can
KC
Tertemiz
Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylül University, İzmir, Turkey.
Erkan
E
Yilmaz
Department of Pulmonology, Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylül University, İzmir, Turkey.
Atila
A
Akkoclu
Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Muğla, Turkey.
Neşat
N
Çullu
Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylül University, İzmir, Turkey.
Cenk
C
Elibol
Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylül University, İzmir, Turkey.
Funda Dinc
FD
Elibol
CT angiography; pulmonary embolism; venous thrombosis