PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Arun Kumar
AU  - Renee M. Moadel
AU  - Linda B. Haramati
AU  - Kenny Ye
AU  - Leonard M. Freeman
AU  - Lionel S. Zuckier
TI  - Experience with a perfusion-only screening protocol for evaluation of pulmonary embolism during the COVID-19 pandemic surge.
AID  - 10.2967/jnumed.121.262580
DP  - 2021 Aug 01
TA  - Journal of Nuclear Medicine
PG  - jnumed.121.262580
4099  - http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/early/2021/08/05/jnumed.121.262580.short
4100  - http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/early/2021/08/05/jnumed.121.262580.full
AB  - The purpose of this study is to evaluate a pulmonary embolism (PE) perfusion-only screening (POS) protocol, introduced during the pandemic surge. Subjects without dense parenchymal lung opacities were studied; those with <1 segmental perfusion defect were considered without PE while patients exhibiting ≥1 defects were indeterminate, mandating additional examinations to determine final diagnosis. Methods: We analyzed demographic information, clinical data, imaging findings and follow-up from electronic records in coronavirus disease, 2019 (COVID-19) patients who underwent lung scintigraphy during the 60-day study period. Results: 53 studies were performed in 17 COVID-19 positive and 36 COVID-19 negative patients. The POS protocol efficiently excluded PE in 79% of cases; the remaining 21%, indeterminate for PE, were generally referred for alternative testing or directly anticoagulated. In patients with negative POS studies there was a very low mortality prior to hospital discharge (1/42), and normal follow up studies when performed (6/6). Conclusion: The POS protocol, implemented during the COVID-19 surge, efficiently and safely excluding PE in 79% of patients.