Seminars in nuclear medicine
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Review
The natural history of venous thromboembolism: impact on ventilation/perfusion scan reporting.
Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) are separate but related aspects of the same dynamic disease process known as venous thromboembolism (VTE). Recent community studies have shown that VTE is a major health issue for the developed world, with at least 201,000 new cases each year in the United States, comprising 107,000 with DVT and 94,000 with PE. A quarter of PE cases die within 7 days, some so rapidly that treatment or intervention is impossible. ⋯ Diagnostic tools or checklists can be used as an alternative. A general knowledge of the natural history of VTE will encourage the nuclear medicine physician to provide an appropriate clinical signal to complement VQ categorical analysis. Combination of these 2 dynamic elements of the art and science of VQ scan reporting-the clinical pretest probability of PE and lung scan category-will permit an accurate prediction of the absolute risk of PE posttest.