TY - JOUR T1 - Pulmonary perfusion scan follow-up in patients with acute pulmonary embolism JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 40 IS - Suppl 56 SP - P3888 AU - Liliana Villari AU - Roberta Pancani AU - Elena Mariancini AU - Ferruccio Aquilini AU - Carlo Marini AU - Alessandro Celi AU - Antonio Palla Y1 - 2012/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/40/Suppl_56/P3888.abstract N2 - IntroductionThe role of pulmonary perfusion scan in the follow-up of pulmonary embolism (PE) is not clearly knownAimTo assess the evolution of pulmonary perfusion after a symptomatic acute PE and the role of persistent perfusion defects in assessing the risk of recurrent PE.MethodsA retrospective analysis (April 2005-May 2010) of patients with symptomatic acute PE for whom a pulmonary perfusion scan follow-up of at least 6 months was available. All scans were read independently by 2 readers whose agreement was calculated by kappa test. Recurrent PE was diagnosed on the basis of the presence of segmental perfusion defects not present at the previous control.ResultThe analysis refers to 252 patients, aged 69 ± 15 years (mean ± SD). The kappa index ranged from 0.84 to 0.98 for the different times. The number of unperfused segments decreased from 5.8 ± 2.8 (baseline) to 2.1 ± 2.0 (6 months, p <0.0001) to 1.7 ± 1.8 (12 months, ns; ANOVA).After a month from the diagnosis there were 16 recurrences; the number of unperfused segments at the last scan available prior to recurrence did not differ significantly from the number measured at the standard 6 months control in patients without recurrent PE.ConclusionAfter 6 months from acute PE there is a significant reduction in the number of unperfused segments which does not change significantly afterwards. The persistence of perfusion defects is not predictive for the development of later recurrent PE. ER -