Which of the following is true regarding the use of CT with contrast for diagnosing pulmonary embolism (PE)?

a. Limited due to availability of CT equip-ment
b. Most sensitive of the diagnostic tech-niques
c. Can only identify the medium to large PE
d. High risk of mortality limits its use


ANS: C
Chest CT with intravenous contrast has become the principal diagnostic imaging modality to evaluate suspected PE. The reported sensitivity of helical computed tomography ranges from 53% to 100% and the specificity ranges from 81% to 100%. Studies indicate that helical CT scanning detects large PEs involving main and lobar emboli. However, this test generally is una-ble to detect smaller PEs.

Health Professions

You might also like to view...

While the major adverse effect of heparin therapy is hemorrhage, another adverse effect involves blood pooling in the skin, which is called:

A) hematopoiesis B) hemarthrosis C) subdural hematoma D) ecchymosis

Health Professions

The three primary obstructive pulmonary diseases are asthma, chronic bronchitis, and emphysema.

Answer the following statement true (T) or false (F)

Health Professions

Discuss the future of cardiovascular research.

What will be an ideal response?

Health Professions

There are more fatalities from chronic smoking of tobacco than from illicit drug use

a. true b. false

Health Professions