Pulmonary Angiography One to Seven Days after Experimental Pulmonary Embolism

Abstract

To study the fate of pulmonary emboli and their associated angiographic appearance one to seven days after embolization, 17 dogs were embolized with autologous blood clot. In 13 cases radiopaque clots were used so that their size and location could be followed by chest roentgenograms and correlated with simultaneous pulmonary angiograms. Immediately following embolization the radiopaque clots were easily identified by chest rotentgenograms and angiography was diagnostic in each case. Twenty-four hours later the emboli decreased in size and number and angiographic evidence of embolism became less apparent; each angiographic sign of embolism became less frequent. Postmortem arteriography and dissection demonstrated that there were no false positive findings by premortem angiography. Embolization of arteries smaller than second order could be detected only at postmortem examination. Similar delays in the performance of angiography in patients with acute pulmonary embolism may result in decreased diagnostic accuracy.