MR pulmonary angiography: Can it be used as an alternative for CT angiography in diagnosis of major pulmonary thrombosis?

ObjectiveA comparative study between the non contrast Magnetic Resonance pulmonary Angiography (MR-PA) and the Computed Tomography Angiography (CTA) in diagnosis of pulmonary embolism (PE).Patients and methodsFifty patients were included in our study. All patients were admitted and/or referred to Chest Department with moderate to high clinical suspicious of PE. All patients underwent CTA and non contrast MR-PA in the same day or within two consecutive days. The radiological examinations were interpreted by two different radiologists. The results were compared and statistically analyzed.ResultsThe mean age of the selected patients was about 55 years old. Thirty-one cases showed positive PE in both MR-PA and CTA. Four cases showed positive PE only in CTA with 2 cases showing positive PE only in MR-PA. The rest cases showed negative results in both. The sensitivity of MR-PA was 88.5% with 86.6% specificity. The sensitivity and specificity were also calculated per vessel and were 87.2% and 99.3% respectively.ConclusionThe non contrast MR-PA has a reasonable sensitivity and specificity in the diagnosis of PE especially in major branches. So, it can be used as an alternative to the CTA especially when the CTA and the use of gadolinium are contraindicated.