Thoracic angio scanner in the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism in bamako

Introduction:Pulmonary embolism is the sudden obliteration (total or partial)of the trunk of the pulmonary artery or one of its branches by a circulating foreign body, most often fibrino-cruoric. Objectives: To study the place of chest CT angiography in the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism Material And Method:This was a descriptive prospective study from February 1, 2020 to January 31, 2021 taking into account all patients referred during this period for clinical suspicion of pulmonary embolism to the medical clinic Marie Curie et les Etoiles. The examinations were performed with a GE 16-bar scanner in helical mode with and without injection of iodinated contrast product by an automatic injector. Results:We diagnosed 43 pulmonary embolisms out of 327 thoracic CT angiography performed by highlighting hypodense gaps inside one or more pulmonary arteries as well as certain branches of division and the sudden interruption of the opacification of certain distal arteries. The prevalence of pulmonary embolism was 13.15%. The female sex predominated with 52% (n=22) and the sex ratio was 1.16. The average age of patients in our series was 45 years with extremes (25 to 85 years). The age group of 41-50 years waspredominant. Dyspnea and chest pain were the most frequent clinical information with44.18% and 18.60% respectively. The seat of the pulmonary embolism concerned the right pulmonary arteries and the seat of the pulmonary embolism concerned the right and left pulmonary arteries in 60.46% and the right side was the most affected. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Pleurisy and Covid-19 were the lesions most associated with pulmonaryembolism (48.83%, 18.60% and 16.28%) Conclusion: Pulmonary embolism is a serious and life-threatening pathology. Its diagnosis of certainty is made with the thoracic CT angiography, the realization of which must not suffer from any delay.