• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.564-573
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• 1999

Background: With variable symptoms and nonspecific radiographic appearances, pulmonary embolism (PE) is a frequent and often undiagnosed cause of mortality and morbidity. The Prospective Investigation of Pulmonary Embolism Diagnosis (PIOPED) study suggested that the majority of patients undergoing ventilation-perfusion (V-Q) scan would require additional studies to establish or to exclude the diagnosis of PE. Pulmonary angiography has been regarded as gold standard for diagnosis of PE. However, it is an invasive procedure that may be associated with significant notable morbidity and mortality. Thus, availability of an accurate, noninvasive screening examination is highly desirable. Method: From October 1994 to February 1997, twenty patients (male 13, female 7, range 23-91 years, median 58 years) who were suspected as pulmonary embolism on the basis of clinical evidence and underwent the spiral volumetric computed tomography (spiral CT), were studied retrospectively to evaluate the effectiveness of spiral CT as a diagnostic tool in PE. Results: PE could be excluded with spiral CT in 4 patients ; diagnoses of these patients were lung cancer, pneumonia with lung abscess, bilateral pleural effusion due to congestive heart failure, nonspecific pulmonary abnormality retrospectively. One patient who disclosed high probability in V/Q scan, could be diagnosed as pneumonia with lung abscess and underlying emphysema with spiral CT. Among 4 patients who showed intermediate and low probability in V/Q scan, 3 patients could be confirmed as PE with spiral CT. Spiral CT was helpful in 3 patients, in whom V/Q scan could not be performed due to other reasons (e.g. night time, mechanical ventilation) to confirm the diagnosis of PE. Spiral CT could demonstrate embolus above lobar artery level in 11 patients, and up to segmental artery level in 5 patients. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that spiral CT could allow accurate demonstration of thrombotic clots in centrally localized embolism. Spiral CT could be effective, specific, noninvasive and useful diagnostic screening modality for the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.268-272
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of reconstruction kernel, and slice thickness on the accuracy of spiral CT-based volume assessment over a range of object sizes typical of synthetic simulated tumor. Spiral CT scanning was performed at various reconstruction kernels (soft tissue, standard, bone), and slice thickness (1, 2, 3 mm) using a phantom made of gelatin and 10 synthetic simulated tumors of different sizes (diameter 3.0-12.0 mm). Three-dimensional volume assessments were obtained using an automated software tool. Results were compared with the reference volume by calculating the percentage error. Statistical analysis was performed using ANOVA and setting statistical significance at P < 0.05. In general, smaller slice thickness and larger sphere diameters produced more accurate volume assessment than larger slice thickness and smaller sphere diameter. The measured volumes were larger than the actual volumes by a common factor depending on slice thickness; in 100HU simulated tumors that had statistically significant, 1 mm slice thickness produced on average 27.41%, 2 mm slice thickness produced 45.61%, 3 mm slice thickness produced 93.36% overestimates of volume. However, there was no statistically significant difference in volume error for spiral CT scans taken with techniques where only reconstruction kernel was changed. These results supported that synthetic simulated tumor size, slice thickness were significant parameters in determining volume measurement errors. For an accurate volumetric measurement of an object, it is critical to select an appropriate slice thickness and to consider the size of an object.