Abstract
This is a 200 patient retrospective single-centre study focused on
evaluating the contribution of echocardiography (Echo) findings as an
initial screening tool in selecting intensive care unit (ICU) patients
with suspected pulmonary embolism (PE) for further diagnostic evaluation
with ventilation/perfusion (V/Q) scintigraphy. A total of 200 patients
with suspected PE were referred for a V/Q scan. Of these 24 had Еcho
findings of a dilated right ventricle (RV). 8 of these 24 patients
(33%) had a positive V/Q scan for PE. Seven of those 8 patients (88%)
had large pulmonary emboli. Of the remaining 176 patients (without
dilated RV) the V/Q scan was positive for pulmonary emboli in 39 cases
(22%). If evaluating only the patients positive for pulmonary emboli on
V/Q scan (47 patients), 8 of them (17%) had a dilated RV, and 39 (83%)
did not have a dilated RV. Thus, we found Еcho mainly contributed to
identifying patients with life threatening large pulmonary
thrombo-embolic disease. In contrast to the above, echocardiography was
non-contributory in the presence of small PE. This was in congruence
with the existing literature.