Journal of nuclear medicine : official publication, Society of Nuclear Medicine
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We used the archived Prospective Investigation of Pulmonary Embolism Diagnosis II (PIOPED II) data and images to test the hypothesis that reading perfusion scans with chest radiographs but without ventilation scans, and categorizing the perfusion scan as "pulmonary embolism (PE) present" or "PE absent," can result in clinically useful sensitivity and specificity in most patients. ⋯ Perfusion scintigraphy combined with chest radiography can provide diagnostic accuracy similar to both CTA and ventilation-perfusion scintigraphy, at lower cost and with lower radiation dose. With modified PIOPED II criteria, a higher proportion of scans were nondiagnostic than with CTA, and with PISAPED criteria none were nondiagnostic.