Computed Tomography Pulmonary Angiography is undisputedly the gold standard investigation in patients with clinical suspicion of PE[1].The basis behind this investigation is that the intravenous contrast administered will be seen as pulmonary vessels and any filling defects noted can be suspected to be an emboli. Hence the degree of pulmonary arterial opacification determines the adequacy of the scan which inturn depends on the rate and dose of contrast media administered. Contrast induced-Acute Kidney Injury is a well-known entity in unwell hospitalized patients. It is usually...

Patient parameters The CTPA images were retrospectively evaluated for 65 patients that included 40 females and 25 males, aged 29-90years. Scan Parameters Reduced dose of intravenous contrast 45 ml of 350 mg iodine/ml Omnipaque was injected at 5 ml/s tapering to 4.2 ml/s by a power injector through an 18guage cannula. The degree of opacification in the proximal pulmonary arteries was measured in Hounsfield units. The scan initiation was controlled using bolus tracking method, placing a region of interest (ROI) in the main pulmonary artery....

• The study measured main, right and left pulmonary artery opacification in 65patients ranging 29-90years and found pulmonary opacification of>250Hu in all pulmonary trunks. • The mean opacification values in main, right and left pulmonary artery were noted to be 502.2,510.38 and 510.49 respectively. • Pearson coefficient of age versus main pulmonary trunk opacification was 0.4554(p=0.000138), which points a positive correlation. • Graph 1. shows correlation of increasing opacification of the pulmonary artery with increasing age.For example, Figure 2. Shows an elderly patient with excellent...

Various past literature have reported on the use of a smaller dose of contrast media in CTPA. In one study [3], the feasibility of using a reduced dose of contrast material(75ml) delivered in a higher concentration (350mg iodine/ml Ioversol) compared to the conventional 100ml of 300mg iodine/ml Ioversol was assessed and successfully established. This finding was also reported in a Randomised Clinical Trial published in the same year [4], which further established the use of a lower energy tube (80kVp vs 100kVp) for a reduced...

Anitha Suseelan Menon MBBS, George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust, Nuneaton, UK; [email protected] Jamal A. Abdulkarim MBBS, Department of Radiology, George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust, Nuneaton, UK; [email protected]

[1] National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Venous thromboembolic diseases: the management of venous thromboembolic diseases and the role of thrombophilia testing, CG144. London: National Institute for Health and Care Excellence; 2012. 
 [2] Lewington A, MacTier R, Hoefield R, et al. Prevention of contrast induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI) in adult patients. Royal College of Radiologist guidelines 2013. Available at: www.rcr.ac.uk/ [accessed 11.12.15]. 
 [3] Goble EW and Abdukarim JA, CT pulmonary angiography using a reduced volume of high-concentration iodinated contrast medium and multiphasic injection...