PULMONARY THROMBOEMBOLISM - SPECTRUM OF FINDINGS ON CT

CT has emerged as a potentially important diagnostic technique in pulm onary thromboembolism that can provide direct visualization of the obs tructing embolus and its associated vascular and pleuroparenchymal seq uelae. Although the role of contrast-enhanced CT in the diagnostic alg orithm of pulmonary embolism has not been defined, patients at risk fo r pulmonary embolism frequently undergo thoracic CT as part of the ass essment for other cardiopulmonary conditions. As such, CT may provide the first indication of clinically significant pulmonary embolic disea se. This essay reviews the vascular, pleural, and parenchymal features of pulmonary thromboembolism observed on CT scans, describes the limi tations of CT, and discusses the imaging features of pulmonary embolis m that overlap other clinical conditions.