login
Become a member
Quick Registration
Full Registration Benefits -
Free Homepages for Doctors
Free Homepages for Hospitals
Free Homepages for Medical Conference
Free Homepages for NGO's
Personal Health Record Creation
Access to all Medical Slides
Access to all Jobs & Products Sale
CT Scan Technology Appears to Increase Pulmonary Embolism Diagnosis Rate
The introduction in 1998 of multi-detector row CTPA revolutionized the way physicians approach PE. Many assumed this highly sensitive test would improve outcomes of this deadly disease by detecting and allowing treatment of emboli that were previously missed. CTPA rapidly spread into practice, largely replacing other tests for PE such as ventilation-perfusion scans and invasive pulmonary angiography. Several institutions reported a seven to 13-fold increase in use of CTPA by 2006, and nationally there was an 11-fold rise in chest CT angiography from 2001 to 2006 in the Medicare fee-for-service population.
In this study, the researchers compared age-adjusted incidence, mortality and treatment complications (in-hospital gastrointestinal tract or intracranial hemorrhage or secondary thrombocytopenia) of PE among United States adults before (1993-1998) and after (1998-2006) CTPA was introduced. They found the incidence of pulmonary embolism was unchanged before CTPA but increased substantially after CTPA, an 81 percent increase, from 62.1 to 112.3 per 100 000. Pulmonary embolism mortality decreased during both periods: more so before the introduction of CTPA (8 percent reduction, from 13.4 to 12.3 per 100 000) than after (3 percent reduction, from 12.3 to 11.9 per 100 000. In addition, they found case fatality improved slightly before CTPA (8 percent decrease, from 13.2 percent to 12.1 percent) and substantially after CTPA (36 percent decrease, from 12.1 percent to 7.8 percent). Meanwhile, CTPA was associated with an increase in presumed complications of anticoagulation for PE: before CTPA, the complication rate was considered stable, but after it increased by 71 percent (from 3.1 to 5.3 per 100 000).
|
|
|
More News on: Computed Tomography, Radioisotope Scan , Deep Vein Thrombosis, Silicosis, Pulmonary Embolism
 Comment & Contribute
|
Medwonders Health Network
- Health News Index
|
|
- News Quick Links
 |
Pulmonary Embolism
Complete Medindia Resources
|
| News Categories: |
| » | Gasoigne Swaps Booze for Botox |
| » | Michelle Obama: Name of Olive Tree in Italy |
| » | Beyonce: Most Beautiful Women in the World |
| » | Robin Gibb Recovers from Coma Wakes Up to Cancer |
| » | Botox and Vitamin Jabs Maintain Simon Cowell’s Young Looks |
| More Celebrity News | |
|
