Technology Makes Blood Clots
Easier to Detect

By Sally Finder-Koziol

Potentially deadly blood clots in the lungs are easier to detect now, thanks to a new study. Extending a commonly used imaging test from the chest to the legs—where the clots typically originate—significantly improves physicians’ abilities to accurately diagnose a blockage in a lung artery. The condition, known as pulmonary embolism, affects an estimated 600,000 Americans each year.

The study showed that chest CT angiography alone detects suspected pulmonary embolism in only 83 percent of patients; in contrast, combined results of the chest CT angiogram and the leg CT scan detect clots in 90 percent of patients.

Pulmonary embolism leads to death in nearly one-third of untreated cases, but therapies lower the death rate to between 3 percent and 8 percent. In nine out of 10 cases, pulmonary embolism begins as a clot in the deep veins of the leg. The clot breaks free from the vein and travels to the lung, where it can block an artery.

Source: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute