What happens after a lung scan? Management and outcome of XXXX in a regional hospital.

@entity1 @entity204 @entity548 @entity1151
@entity1151 ( @entity1151 ) remains a common preventable cause of @entity204 in hospitalized @entity1 . The purpose of this study is to examine the in-hospital management, complications of treatment and clinical outcomes of inpatients undergoing lung scintigraphy for the diagnosis of @entity1151 in a regional hospital. Two hundred consecutive inpatients with suspected @entity1151 were enrolled. The results of lung scans, stratified according to the probability of @entity1151 , were correlated with anticoagulation status, discharge diagnosis, @entity548 and clinical outcome at 6 months. The use of complementary imaging investigations was also determined. Other imaging was performed infrequently (Doppler ultrasound in 18% of @entity1 , CT pulmonary angiography (CT-PA) in 0.5% and conventional pulmonary angiography in 4% of @entity1 ). Long-term anticoagulation was initiated in 66 @entity1 (33%), including 10 with intermediate probability lung scans (IPLS) who had no further investigations. Major @entity548 occurred in 14% of all long-term anticoagulated @entity1 followed up. The recognized recurrence rate was very low (3%) and there was no documented mortality from @entity1151 . Most @entity1 with suspected @entity1151 are treated on the basis of the lung scan result without further tests. However, other imaging (especially CT-PA and conventional pulmonary angiography) should be performed prior to anticoagulation in @entity1 with IPLS in whom the diagnosis is in doubt. Standard anticoagulation for 6 months appears to be effective for @entity1151 , and the recurrence rate is low. However, it has a significant risk of major @entity548 .
