SPECT/CT has established itself as a powerful diagnostic tool in nuclear medicine. The combined advantages of high sensitivity SPECT imaging with high specificity CT imaging has been shown to be superior to planar and SPECT imaging for many clinical indications. The CT component of SPECT/CT improves image quality through attenuation correction (AC), precise anatomical localisation […]
Dr Malavika Nathan
Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust
Dual-energy computed tomography (CT) imaging involves obtaining two image datasets acquired at different tube voltages. It harnesses the difference in attenuation when different photon energy levels are applied. Using specialised software, the two images are combined to produce a variety of derived images. This has utility in both cardiac and pulmonary imaging, including improving image […]
Michelle C Williams
University of Edinburgh
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterised by airflow obstruction that is not fully reversible, that does not change markedly over several months and that is usually progressive in the long term. As an umbrella term, COPD has subsumed chronic bronchitis and emphysema.
Allanah Barker, Judith Babar
Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
It is a familiar request on call: A pregnant woman presenting with chest pain and tachycardia – a pulmonary embolism (PE) needs to be excluded. Increasing requests for imaging in this context are unavoidable as PE remains a leading cause of mortality in pregnancy and the post-partum period in the developed world, with an approximate […]
Dr Lynne Armstrong, Dr Andrew Beale
United Hospitals Bristol, Great Western Hospital
During 2015 and 2016, 50,696 admissions for acute pulmonary embolism were reported in the UK alone, resulting in an incidence of around 0.8 per 1,000 population. Just under 10% of these cases were in patients aged 40 or under; a cohort with greater than the reported 0.005% per mSv average lifetime cancer risk. While VQ […]
Matthew Memmott, Dr Sivakumar Muthu
Central Manchester University Hospitals
A patient presenting with possible deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is one of the most common scenarios that clinicians face on a daily basis. Incidence is estimated to be approximately 1 in 1,000. Due to the potentially fatal consequences of not appropriately diagnosing and treating DVT – specifically pulmonary embolism – the importance of prompt and […]
Dr Neelan Das, Dr R Kaikini, Dr N Wojtasjek, Dr Charlene Barter
Kent and Canterbury Hospital
Shortness of breath and chest pain are two of the most common symptoms accounting for acute presentations to hospital. Pulmonary embolism (PE) is part of the differential diagnosis for both symptoms and due to increasing clinical concern about missing venous thromboembolic disease (VTE) and greater access to imaging, there has been a progressive year-on-year increase […]
Dr Marko Berovic
Whittington Hospital