ULTRASOUND and PULMONARY EMBOLISM

Ultrasound elevates diagnosis of pulmonary embolism

By Erik L. Ridley, AuntMinnie staff writer

February 8, 2017 -- Adding lung and venous ultrasound into the diagnostic process for pulmonary embolism (PE) can yield improved sensitivity and specificity, obviating the need for CT pulmonary angiography in many cases, according to research that will be published in the March issue of Academic Emergency Medicine.

In a multicenter study involving more than 400 patients, an Italian research team found that combining lung and venous ultrasound, Wells score, and D-dimer test results would have avoided the need to perform CT pulmonary angiography (CTPA) in half of cases with suspected PE. In comparison, a traditional approach based only on the Wells score would have bypassed CTPA in just over 25% of the patients, concluded the team led by Dr. Peiman Nazerian from Careggi University Hospital in Florence.

As a result, a diagnostic strategy that integrates clinical information, lung and venous ultrasound, and D-dimer results "may increase the performance of risk stratification and may reduce the use of CTPA in the diagnostic approach to PE, [while] still maintaining an acceptable safety profile," the authors wrote.