Affiliation:
1. Royal Hospital for Women, University of New South Wales, Australia
Abstract
Background Pulmonary embolism (PE) can be fatal yet difficult to diagnose in pregnancy. Computed tomography pulmonary angiogram (CTPA) or ventilation/perfusion (V/Q) scans are often conducted, potentially leading to low positive scan rates. Methods Retrospective data analysis was conducted for pregnant women and non-pregnant age-matched control who underwent CTPA and/or V/Q scan for investigation of PE. The main outcomes were the positive and non-diagnostic imaging rates. Results In total, 440 women underwent V/Q or CTPA scans, 86 of whom were pregnant (19.5%). The positive scan rate was 3.5% and 8.8% in the pregnant and non-pregnant groups, respectively ( p = 0.1). The non-diagnostic scan rate was similar between pregnant and non-pregnant groups (13.9% vs 9.9%, p = 0.3). Within the pregnant group, there were more non-diagnostic CTPAs than V/Q scans ( p = 0.005). Conclusion Our study confirms a low positive imaging rate and a relatively high non-diagnostic CTPA rate in pregnancy. Newer strategies are needed to reduce the number of negative imaging studies conducted.
Subject
Obstetrics and Gynecology