Author/Authors :
Jalali Monfared, Leyla Department of Radiology - School of Medicine - Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan , Moradi, Maryam Department of Radiology - School of Medicine - Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan
Abstract :
Background: Considering the importance of using more appropriate imaging technique for accurate diagnosis of pulmonary
thromboembolism (PTE) with less side effects, we aimed to evaluate the quality of pulmonary 64-multidetector computed
tomographic (MDCT) angiography in pregnant and postpartum women with suspected PTE in Isfahan. Materials and Methods:
In this descriptive study, radiological findings of pregnant and postpartum women with suspected PTE who underwent pulmonary
64-MDCT angiography were evaluated. Prevalence of PTE in pregnant and postpartum women, mean of pulmonary arteries density
for right and left pulmonary arteries, and their lobar and segmental branches, diagnostic quality of the pulmonary arteries density and
their scoring, frequency of diagnostic and nondiagnostic images, mean of radiation dose and mean of bolus time, and the correlation
between the quality of the vascular density with the peak density of the pulmonary artery were determined. Results: In this study,
44 pregnant and postpartum women with suspected PTE were selected. The overall prevalence of PTE was 9.1% (4/44). PTE was
diagnosed in 1 (3.7%) pregnant and 3 (17.5%) postpartum women (P = 0.14). Mean density of pulmonary trunk was 278.81± 108.16
Hounsfield unit (HU) and 308.41 ± 59.30 HU in pregnant and postpartum women, respectively. Mean of bolus timing, kilovoltage
peak (kVp), tube current, and dose length product (DLP) were 12.53 ± 2.36 s, 105.22± 45.71 milliamperage (MA), 382.9 ± 173.5
MA, and 317.98 ± 78.92 mGy/cm, respectively. The rate of nondiagnostic images was 4.5%. Conclusion: Our findings indicated
that pulmonary 64-MDCT angiography is an appropriate imaging method for diagnosing PTE in pregnant and postpartum women
with suspected PTE. It seems that, using fast CT systems (64-MDCT), in accordance with high flow rate, high contrast medium
concentration and low kVp could explain the obtained appropriate quality of images more efficiently than computed tomographic
pulmonary angiography (CTPA).
Keywords :
pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) , postpartum pregnancy , Computed tomographic pulmonary angiography (CTPA) , diagnosis
