الفهرس 
PULMONARY VASCULATUREOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a common condition with considerable morbidity and mortality; it is more often diagnosed postmortem by pathologists than in vivo by clinicians. Prompt and accurate diagnosis is difficult because PE may be clinically silent, the symptoms are vague and non specific, and in addition there is no definitive, non invasive diagnostic test to establish its diagnosis.
Until recently, the initial diagnostic study in patients with suspected pulmonary embolism was ventilation-perfusion scintigraphy. A normal or low probability result with low clinical suspicion of pulmonary embolism effectively excludes the diagnosis, whereas a high probability result in appropriate patients is sufficient to establish the diagnosis. In practice, however, as many as 75% of ventilation-perfusion scans have non specific abnormalities, that preclude a definitive diagnosis.