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Pulmonary Perfusion in Acute Pulmonary Embolism: Agreement of MRI and SPECT for Lobar, Segmental and Subsegmental Perfusion Defects.

Kluge A, Gerriets T, Stolz E, Dill T, Mueller KD, Mueller C, Bachmann G

Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Pius‐Hospital, Oldenburg, Germany; Diagnostic Radiology, Kerckhoff Heart Center, Bad Nauheim, Germany; Neurology, Justus‐Liebig‐University Giessen, Germany; Cardiology, Kerckhoff Heart Center, Bad Nauheim, Germany; Nuclear Medicine, Kerckhoff Heart Center, Bad Nauheim, Germany.

Purpose: To assess prospectively the agreement of magnetic resonance (MR) pulmonary perfusion with single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) perfusion for perfusion defects down to the subsegmental level in patients with suspected pulmonary embolism (PE).Material and Methods: In 41 patients with suspected PE, contrast-enhanced MR pulmonary perfusion (3D-FLASH, TR/TE 1.6/0.6 ms) was compared to SPECT perfusion on a per-examination basis as well as at the lobar, segmental, and subsegmental level.Results: The MRI protocol was completed in all patients, and mean examination time was 3 min 56 s. MR perfusion showed a very high agreement with SPECT (kappa value per examination 0.98, and 0.98, 0.83, and 0.69 for lobar, segmental, and subsegmental perfusion defects, respectively). Of 15 patients with PE, MR perfusion detected 14 cases.Conclusion: The very high agreement of MR perfusion with SPECT perfusion enables the detection of subtle findings in suspected PE.

Published 1 November 2006 in Acta Radiol, 47(9): 933-940.
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