Which of the following is true regarding the use of CT with contrast for diagnosing pulmonary embolism (PE)?

a. Limited due to availability of CT equip-ment
b. Most sensitive of the diagnostic tech-niques
c. Can only identify the medium to large PE
d. High risk of mortality limits its use

ANS: C
Chest CT with intravenous contrast has become the principal diagnostic imaging modality to evaluate suspected PE. The reported sensitivity of helical computed tomography ranges from 53% to 100% and the specificity ranges from 81% to 100%. Studies indicate that helical CT scanning detects large PEs involving main and lobar emboli. However, this test generally is una-ble to detect smaller PEs.

Health Professions

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