Impact factors on the quality of computed tomography pulmonary angiography in the diagnosis of thromboembolism

• Autor(a) principal: Cabral, Michaela
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Freitas, Davide, Rodrigues, António
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://doi.org/10.46885/roentgen.v3i2.82
• topic: Pulmonary Angiography by Computed Tomography; Pulmonary Embolism; Artefacts; Quality; Angiografia Pulmonar por Tomografia Computorizada; Tromboembolismo Pulmonar; Artefatos; Qualidade

Introduction: pulmonary embolism became a relevant disease among the population, especially in the emergency room. Pulmonary Angiography by Computed Tomography is the most requested exam to detect a pulmonary embolism. Objectives: The main objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of some parameters of Pulmonary Angiography’s by Computed Tomography with the final image quality. Materials and Methods: An observational, cross-sectional and retrospective study was accomplished by collecting 30 studies from a main Hospital. The quality of the final image was evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively. Results: From the 30 studies, just 5 patients were diagnosed with pulmonary embolism. The superior vena cava artefact was detected in 29 exams and the artefact by the respiratory motion was detected in 12 exams. Just 1 study was evaluated with 1 by the quality of the final image, reflecting a poor diagnostic quality. The average Hounsfield units in the pulmonary trunk, right pulmonary artery and left pulmonary artery were 397,27±121,75 Hounsfield units, 377,97±115,06 Hounsfield units, 376,27±113,34 Hounsfield units, respectively. Conclusion: With this study it was possible to notice that some parameters could be changed without compromising the final image quality. Even though the most common artefact was the one influenced by the superior vena cava it doesn’t significantly influence the diagnostic quality. The minimum contract injection flow is 3,5ml/s and the contract injection site had no inference on the quality of the study.