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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Indian J Radiol Imaging 2023; 33(04): 456-462
DOI: 10.1055/s-0043-1764489
Original Article

Comparison of Dual-Energy Computed Tomography Pulmonary Angiography-Derived Contrast Enhancement with Standard Dual-Energy Pulmonary Angiography in Diagnosing Subsegmental Pulmonary Embolism: A Prospective Study

Vivek Yadav   #
1   Department of Radiodiagnosis and Imaging, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
,
Manphool Singhal    #
1   Department of Radiodiagnosis and Imaging, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
,
Muniraju Maralakunte
1   Department of Radiodiagnosis and Imaging, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
,
Navneet Sharma
2   Department of Internal Medicine, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
,
Arun Sharma 
1   Department of Radiodiagnosis and Imaging, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
,
Anupam Lal
1   Department of Radiodiagnosis and Imaging, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
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Abstract

Objective In this study, we compare the diagnostic accuracy of dual-energy (DE) computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA) derived contrast enhancement (DECTPA, CTPA images with iodine maps) with standard dual-energy pulmonary angiography (SCTPA) for diagnosis of subsegmental pulmonary embolism in the cases with clinical suspicion of acute pulmonary embolism (APE).

Materials and Methods We included 50 cases with clinical suspicion of APE that were referred for CTPA. All the patients underwent CTPA in the dual-energy protocol. Two radiologists evaluated the images. The first radiologist interpreted the SCTPA images (vascular images) and the second radiologist interpreted the DECTPA (CTPA images with iodine maps) for findings of APE. We calculated the sensitivity, specificity, and negative predictive value of DECTPA vis-à-vis SCTPA images.

Results The DECTPA with the advantage of iodine map utilization yielded higher detection of thrombi in peripheral subsegmental arteries (72 vs. 99; p = – 0.001) as compared to the SCTPA images by identification of 18 new perfusion defects (interquartile range [IQR]: 0–1) that were consistent with APE. Filling defects were identified in 27 (IQR: 0–4) more subsegmental arteries supplying these 18 areas, which were not detected on SCTPA alone. These 18 perfusion defects were identified in 13 cases. In these 13 cases, 4 new cases were diagnosed that were negative on CTPA (p = –0.125).

In the evaluation of the APE, sensitivity and specificity were calculated and it was found that DECTPA showed 100% sensitivity and 86% specificity with 100% negative predictive value in the detection of thrombi as compared to the routine CTPA.

Conclusion DECTPA has higher sensitivity and negative predictive value in the detection of the subsegmental perfusion defect identification as compared to SCTPA.

Keywords

acute pulmonary embolism - CT pulmonary angiography - dual-energy CT - iodine maps - subsegmental pulmonary thromboembolism

# Both the authors contributed equally to this article and share the first authorship.




Publication History

Article published online:
18 May 2023

© 2023. Indian Radiological Association. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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