Pulmonary Embolism Support Group

By far the most common form of pulmonary embolism is a thromboembolism, which occurs when a blood clot, generally a venous thrombus, becomes dislodged from its site of formation and embolizes to the arterial blood supply of one of the lungs. Symptoms may include difficulty breathing, pain during breathing, and more rarely circulatory instability and death.

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Lungs & Respiration
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Help needed asap

Chante2017
Chante2017

Hi everyone, I had gone to emergency and gotten a ct a few weeks back that was negative a few days later mh d dimer was checked that was 900 I go in for a vq scan tomorrow of my lungs but am only 31 and have had no joke about 28 ct scans in my life not including all x rays and  owner vq scans I don't feel well but am unsure if it's pe or not I'm really not wanting this scan if it's avoidable anyone know if I would be having symptoms of pe much worse three weeks after dinner dimer?? Please help my Dr literally asked me which test had less radiation so he is of no help! 

notsopatient
notsopatient
What symptoms of a PE are you having worse? Presumably you are on blood thinners now so the acute phase of a PE should have passed?

A VQ scan is a much lower dose of radiation than a CT scan and a very good diagnostic tool for a PE, if it were me I would have the test (and did have it).
rmb
rmb
From your previous posts, you are no longer on xarelto, right? Here's how I look at radiation and scans: what risk is greater at the moment, risk of radiation exposure or risk of acute PE. I try to avoid CT scans whenever possible because I've had so many but when it comes to PEs, if I have PE symptoms along with an elevated d dimer, I'm doing whatever test is necessary to diagnose or rule out a PE. Exposure to radiation may affect you years from now. PEs are an immediate risk.
rmb
rmb
How did everything go?
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