Technical aspects of the injection of intravenous contrast in CT angiography of the Chest for the evaluation of Pulmonary Thromboembolism – Case study

• Autor(a) principal: Araújo, Rui
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: Nogueira, Fábio
• 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.v4i1.108
• topic: Pulmonary thromboembolism; Angio-CT; Contrast Volume; Tromboembolismo pulmonar; Angio-TC; Volume de Contraste

Introduction: In the last three years, there has been a significant increase in chest examinations due to COVID-19. In addition to the initial assessment of the lung parenchyma, the use of CT angiography to identify pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) occupied a prominent place in the assessment of pulmonary vasculature and perfusion. Materials and Methods: From May to October 2022, all Angio-CT exams for PTE research performed by the same professional were acquired with a maximum of 50 mL, using optimized protocols for Philips® Brilliance 64-slice and Siemens® SOMATOM go.Up equipment. 32-slice. In each examination, the patient general condition was analyzed, the venous catheter was tested and the most suitable injection parameters were determined. The ROI location and the number of reference Hounsfield Units varied from patient to patient. Results: The average volume of contrast injected in exams performed using the Philips® equipment was 38.3 ± 3.7 mL and the flow was 3.3 ± 0.5 mL/s, with an average acquisition time of 3. 9 ± 0.6 s. In the Siemens® equipment, the mean volume of injected contrast was 38.3 ± 6 mL, with mean flow and acquisition time of 3.2 ± 0.6 mL/s and 11.1 ± 1.3 s, respectively. Conclusion: For each equipment and patient, it´s imperative to adapt the volume of contrast to be injected to detect PTE. Volumes of less than 50 mL are sufficient to demonstrate small circulation.