Chest
Clinical InvestigationsCLOTTINGSonography of Lung and Pleura in Pulmonary Embolism: Sonomorphologic Characterization and Comparison With Spiral CT Scanning
Section snippets
Patients
Between February 1998 and March 2000, a total of 69 consecutive patients (27 women and 42 men; mean age, 62.8 years; age range, 24 to 88 years) with clinical signs of PE were enrolled in the study. Only those patients were included on whom TS as well as CT scans had been performed within 24 h. During the study period, 138 patients with suspected PEs were investigated with sCT scanning but did not undergo TS.
All patients had a typical history of PE with the acute onset of complaints that
TS
Of the 69 patients enrolled in this study, 44 (63.8%) had experienced PEs. Among the 44 patients, 35 (80.0%) showed sonographic changes involving the lung parenchyma (Table 1). The parenchymal lesions were assessed according to their shape, number, size, demarcation, movement during respiration, and the detection of a single central echo. Lesions also were analyzed using color Doppler imaging. In addition, the pleura were analyzed with respect to the continuity of the visceral pleural line and
Discussion
Despite the advent of new techniques such as contrast-enhanced sCT scanning, diagnosing PEs still remains a significant medical problem, accounting for a considerable number of deaths each year. Moreover, only one third of PEs confirmed at autopsy are diagnosed before death2356725 suggesting that a high percentage of PEs continue to remain undiagnosed. On the other hand, the early accurate diagnosis of PE is important and potentially life-saving.26 The reasons for this discrepancy between the
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