Professional paper
https://doi.org/10.55378/rv.47.2.9
Incidence of pulmonary thromboembolism in patients who underwent CT pulmonary angiography in the first quarter of 2023 at CHC Rijeka
Lucija Župan
; Sveučilište u Rijeci, Fakultet zdravstvenih studija
Melita Kukuljan
; Klinički zavod za dijagnostičku i intervencijsku radiologiju, KBC-a Rijeka
Ena Mršić
; Klinički zavod za dijagnostičku i intervencijsku radiologiju, KBC-a Rijeka
*
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
Aim: Pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) is an urgent medical condition in which one or more branches of the pulmonary arteries are occluded by an embolus. CT pulmonary angiography (CTPA) is a rapid, non-invasive radiological method used to diagnose PTE. The main goal of this research was to determine the incidence of positive PTE findings in 524 patients who underwent CTPA, and to determine the frequency of affected branches of the pulmonary arteries. Furthermore, one of the goals was to determine the frequency of incidental findings (lung nodules, lung tumor, pneumonia, lung infarction, pleural effusion).
Methods: In this retrospective study, data was collected on 524 patients, who due to suspicion of PTE, underwent CTPA at the Clinical Department for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, at the Clinical Hospital Center (CHC) Rijeka, in the period from January to April 2023. All the necessary data specified in the radiologist’s report was collected from the hospital database (IBIS) and the associated application (ISSA).
Results: Out of a total of 524 patients who underwent CTPA, PTE was diagnosed in 97 patients or 18,51%. In our research, there was an approximately equal number of male and female subjects (260 or 49,62% versus 264 or 50,39%). The incidence of PTE was slightly higher in men (52 or 53,61%) than in women (45 or 46,39%). Most of the patients (262 or 50,00%) belonged to the age group between 61 and 80 years. Incidental findings described on CTPA, in order of frequency, were pneumonia (37,15%), pleural effusions (34,86%), pulmonary nodules (16,79%), lung tumors (6,87%), and pulmonary infarcts (4,33%).
Conclusion: CT pulmonary angiography is the gold standard for the detection of pulmonary thromboembolism. By reviewing the available literature, the incidence of PTE is comparable to the results of our study. In ours, as well as in most recent studies, PTE was most often detected in the segmental and subsegmental branches of the pulmonary arteries, while the frequency of incidental findings detected on CTPA does not match with the results of other studies.
Keywords
CT angiography; Incidence; Pulmonary thromboembolism
Hrčak ID:
309883
URI
Publication date:
18.10.2023.
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