This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages without signing in

Pulmonary angiography

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

Pulmonary angiograp

hy is a highly accurate way of depicting the pulmonary vasculature. A catheter is advanced to the main pulmonary artery and contrast media is injected under radiographic screening. At the best resolution, arteries down to the first two segmental subdivisions are shown.

Pulmonary angiography is the most precise method of diagnosing pulmonary embolus. Signs include:

  • intraluminal filling defects
  • the abrupt cut-off of lobar, segmental and subsegmental vessels
  • oligaemia
  • asymmetrical perfusion
  • 'pruning' of the peripheral pulmonary vessels

There is evidence that Helical CT angiography has better discriminatory power than ventilation-perfusion scan to exclude pulmonary embolism (2) when compared with conventional pulmonary angiography results as a 'reference standard'.

In patients with suspected pulmonary embolism, multidetector CTA (computed tomographic angiography) - CTV (combined with venous-phase imaging) has a higher diagnostic sensitivity than does CTA alone, with similar specificity (3).

Reference:

  1. Das, S.K. Surgery 1994; 12(10): 217-223.
  2. Hayashino Y et al. Ventilation-perfusion scanning and Helical CT in suspected pulmonar embolism: meta-analysis of diagnostic performance. Radiology 2005;234:740-8
  3. Stein PD et al. Multidetector computed tomography for acute pulmonary embolism. N Engl J Med. 2006 Jun 1;354(22):2317-27

Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Annotations allow you to add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation. E.g. a website or number. This information will always show when you visit this page.

The content herein is provided for informational purposes and does not replace the need to apply professional clinical judgement when diagnosing or treating any medical condition. A licensed medical practitioner should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions.

Connect

Copyright 2024 Oxbridge Solutions Limited, a subsidiary of OmniaMed Communications Limited. All rights reserved. Any distribution or duplication of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited. Oxbridge Solutions receives funding from advertising but maintains editorial independence.