Application of 128-slice spiral CT combination scanning in the diagnosis of embolisms in pulmonary arteries and lower extremity veins

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the significance of using multi-row spiral computed tomography (CT) to scan for pulmonary artery thrombosis and lower limb deep vein thrombosis (LVT) in patients with suspected LVT. A total of 110 patients underwent a contrast-enhanced spiral CT inspection of the pulmonary artery and lower extremity veins. Three-dimensional digital image processing, including multi-planar reconstruction (MPR), maximum intensity projection (MIP) and volume rendering (VR), was also conducted; two groups of experienced radiologists analyzed the CT images to evaluate the postprocessing techniques of these CT images. Seventy-five patients were diagnosed with LVT with or without pulmonary embolism (PE); out of these 75, 34 patients were diagnosed with PE and LVT together and 41 patients were diagnosed with LVT alone. A further 31 patients were diagnosed with iliac vein compression syndrome (IVCS), and no embolisms were detected in the remaining four patients. With regard to PE, MPR and MIP demonstrated an accuracy of 100%, while MPR also showed images of LVT with an accuracy of 100%. The follow-up results at 12 months were consistent with the CT scan results. The clinical use of 128-slice spiral CT combination scanning in the detection of PE and LVT has significant potential to improve upon the present methods of diagnosis.