Volume 24, Issue 106, November - December, 2020

Appropriateness of pulmonary CT angiography testing request in patients suspected with pulmonary embolism in Hai’l Region, Northern Saudi Arabia

Saleh Hadi Alharbi¹, Mosaad Almegren¹, Hassan Abdulrazaq Alshammari², Abdullah Hamad Alanazi², Zaid Awad Hamoud Alshammari², Saud Khalid Alshammari², Abdulaziz Mohammed Alenezi², Hussain Gadelkarim Ahmed^2,3♦

¹Department of Internal Medicine, Al Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
²College of Medicine, University of Ha’il, Saudi Arabia
³Department of Histopathology and Cytology, FMLS, University of Khartoum, Sudan

^♦Corresponding author
Prof. Hussain Gadelkarim Ahmed, College of Medicine, University of Ha’il, Saudi Arabia. Email: Hussaingad5@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Objective: The present study aimed to evaluate the appropriateness of pulmonary CT angiography testing requests in patients suspected of pulmonary embolism in the Hai'l Region, Northern Saudi Arabia. Methodology: This study involved data obtained from 133 patients presented with suspected pulmonary embolism (PE) (from Feb. 2019 to Feb. 2020). All available variables were attained from the intensive care unit (ICU) at King Khalid Hospital, Hail, Northern Saudi Arabia. Results: CTPA was performed on 133 patients suspected with PE, 70(52.6%) males, and 63(47.4%) females, aged 15 to 95 years with a mean age of 48.3 years. CTPA testing was positive in 47/133(35.3%) patients and non-indicative in 86/133(65%). Out of the 45 confirmed patients with PE, CAPA was positive in 35/45(77.8%). The probability of true CAPA positive (sensitivity) was 77.78%, whereas, the probability of true CAPA negative (specificity) was 86.36%. Conclusion: CTPA is appropriately used in Northern Saudi Arabia with fewer overdiagnosis escapes, perhaps due to the adoption of existing guidelines for the management of PE. The use of multifarious diagnostic methods for the diagnosis of PE is deemed important.

Keywords: Pulmonary embolism, CT angiography, D-dimer, blood coagulation, Saudi Arabia

Medical Science, 2020, 24(106), 4190-4195

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