Trends in the use of diagnostic imaging in patients hospitalized with acute pulmonary embolism

From 1979 to 2001, the proportion of imaging tests by computed tomography (CT), ventilation perfusion (VQ) lung scan, pulmonary angiography, and venous ultrasound was assessed in patients with pulmonary embolism (PE) from the National Hospital Discharge Survey. By 2001, there was a higher proportion of imaging tests with CT than VQ scans (36% vs 32%). Even so, in the United States, a large proportion of patients continued to have VQ scans.