Comparison of VQ SPECT and planar VQ lung scintigraphy in diagnosing acute pulmonary embolism

Planar ventilationperfusion (VQ) scintigraphy is currently the standard method for the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism (PE) in most nuclear medicine centers. However, recent studies have shown a superior sensitivity and specificity when applying VQ single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in diagnosing PE. This study evaluated the diagnostic performance of three-dimensional VQ SPECT in comparison with planar VQ scintigraphy.