RESUMO
We assessed the diagnostic usefulness of helical CT scan of the thorax in the setting of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension by prospectively comparing the results of helical CT scan to those of the pulmonary angiogram (gold standard). We studied 40 patients with diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension of diverse etiology (mean age: 40.7 +/- 12 y.o.; mean systolic pulmonary artery pressure: 91 +/- 33 mmHg)). Thirty of these patients fulfilled the diagnostic criteria of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension and the other ten were used as controls. Diagnosis in control patients included: primary pulmonary hypertension (4); patent ductus arteriosus (2); atrial septal defect (1); rheumatic valve disease (1); ischemic heart disease (1); and acute pulmonary embolism (1). Both helical CT scan and pulmonary angiogram were part of the routine diagnostic work up of these patients, and were, performed and interpreted almost simultaneously (within one week) by a different group of investigators in a blind manner. Only the diagnostic accuracy of the method regarding central (major arteries) vascular lesions was evaluated. Helical CT scan had an overall sensitivity of 100% (29/29), and a specificity of 91% (10/11). Positive predictive and negative predictive values were 96.6% (29/30) and 100% (10/10), respectively. Overall diagnostic accuracy was 97.5% (39/40). We conclude that helical CT scan of the thorax is an excellent alternative approach for the diagnosis of major arteries lesions in the setting of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension.