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Experience with a Perfusion-Only Screening Protocol for Evaluation of Pulmonary Embolism During the COVID-19 Pandemic Surge.
Kumar, Arun; Moadel, Renée M; Haramati, Linda B; Ye, Kenny; Freeman, Leonard M; Zuckier, Lionel S.
  • Kumar A; Division of Nuclear Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York.
  • Moadel RM; Division of Nuclear Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York.
  • Haramati LB; Division of Cardiothoracic Imaging, Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York.
  • Ye K; Departments of Radiology and Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York; and.
  • Freeman LM; Division of Biostatistics, Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York.
  • Zuckier LS; Division of Nuclear Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York.
J Nucl Med ; 63(4): 598-601, 2022 04.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1346383
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to evaluate a pulmonary embolism (PE) perfusion-only screening (POS) protocol introduced during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic surge. Subjects without dense parenchymal lung opacities were studied; those with less than 1 segmental perfusion defect were considered to have no PE, whereas those exhibiting 1 or more defects were indeterminate, mandating additional examinations to determine the final diagnosis.

Methods:

We analyzed demographic information, clinical data, imaging findings, and follow-up data from the electronic records of COVID-19 patients who underwent lung scintigraphy during the 60-d study period.

Results:

In total, 53 studies were performed on 17 COVID-19-positive and 36 COVID-19-negative patients. The POS protocol efficiently excluded PE in 79% of cases; the remaining 21%, indeterminate for PE, were generally referred for alternative testing or were directly anticoagulated. In patients with negative POS results, there was a very low mortality before hospital discharge (1/42) and normal results on follow-up studies (6/6).

Conclusion:

The POS protocol, implemented during the COVID-19 surge, efficiently and safely excluded PE in 79% of patients.
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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Pulmonary Embolism / COVID-19 Type of study: Cohort study / Diagnostic study / Experimental Studies / Prognostic study Limits: Humans Language: English Journal: J Nucl Med Year: 2022 Document Type: Article

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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Pulmonary Embolism / COVID-19 Type of study: Cohort study / Diagnostic study / Experimental Studies / Prognostic study Limits: Humans Language: English Journal: J Nucl Med Year: 2022 Document Type: Article