Diagnosis Options For Possible Pulmonary Embolisms

Physicians Need More Education About Diagnosis Options

For Possible Pulmonary Embolisms, Study Says

Some physicians need to be better educated about the relative risks and usefulness of various tests that are used to diagnose the potentially life-threatening pulmonary embolism-a blood clot in the lung-- a new study concludes.

Results of the study were presented May 10 at the 99th Annual Meeting of the American Roentgen Ray Society in New Orleans, LA. The study involved several departments at a Tacoma, WA teaching hospital, Madigan Army Medical Center.

Overall, 56 percent of those physicians surveyed were either dissatisfied or only partially satisfied with the current diagnostic approaches to detecting pulmonary embolisms (PE) at the hospital.

One important problem found, says study lead author Gina J. Kim-Ahn, M.D., is that "some physicians haven't been doing a full work-up on potential PE patients. This

could lead to under-treatment or over-treatment." Dr. Kim-Ahn is a radiologist at the medical center.

Dr. Kim-Ahn says some physicians were reluctant to use pulmonary arteriograms (PAG) because they believed the invasive test could be too risky. Others, she said, were not well versed in the value of the less invasive computed tomography angiography (CTA).

By using CTA first, she explains, in some cases it may shorten the work-up time, and render the use of PAG unnecessary. On the other hand, overall, PAG is an important diagnostic tool for PE and physicians should be aware of this and that the risks often are not as great as they believe, according to Dr. Kim-Ahn. "If physicians were updated regarding the current risks of PAG, they could do a more complete work-up,"she says.

Both tests require injection of a contrast agent that could cause reactions. CTA, while it has fewer applications than PAG, does not require the threading of a catheter to the heart as PAG does, says Dr. Kim-Ahn.

The American Roentgen Ray Society, with some 12,000 members, is the first and oldest radiological society in the United States. The society is dedicated to the advancement of medicine through the science of radiology.

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