Respiratory failure & ventilation
Accuracy of electrical impedance tomography to detect perfusion defects in pulmonary embolism
Authors' conclusion
The novel wasted-ventilation index showed high accuracy in detecting pulmonary arterial occlusions of varying severity, distinguishing them from other perfusion problems.
Study context
- Population
- Piglets with experimental pulmonary artery occlusion; patients with acute respiratory failure or chronic thromboembolic disease288 electrical impedance tomography (EIT)-exams
- Comparison
- EIT-V̇/Q̇ wasted-ventilation index vs computerized tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA) / dynamic contrast-enhanced CT (DCE-CT) for detecting pulmonary embolism (PE)
- Outcome
- Accuracy of the wasted-ventilation index for detecting PE
Methodological detailsexperimental and clinical validation
- Experimental and clinical validation
Performance
As reported in the abstract
Wasted-ventilation index accuracy for PE
| Test or model | AUC | Sensitivity | Specificity | P |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Animals | 0.989 | 96% | 94% | P < 0.0001 |
| Patients | 0.923 | 81% | 94% | P < 0.001 |
AUC
Animals0.989
Patients0.923
Sensitivity
Animals96%
Patients81%
Specificity
Animals94%
Patients94%
P
AnimalsP < 0.0001
PatientsP < 0.001
Further findings
| Outcome | Mean bias (%) |
|---|---|
| Agreement of EIT regional perfusion with DCE-CT and CTPAEIT vs DCE-CT · ± 3.02% | - 3.04 |
| Agreement of EIT regional perfusion with DCE-CT and CTPAEIT vs CTPA · ± 2.81% | + 3.45 |
Agreement of EIT regional perfusion with DCE-CT and CTPA
- Strong positive correlations between EIT and DCE-CT or CTPA regional perfusion estimates
Wasted-ventilation index after thrombolysis
- Index consistently decreased after thrombolysis
Parts of this Brief are withheld: the automatic checks could not confirm them against the abstract.
Original publication
Accuracy of electrical impedance tomography to detect perfusion defects in pulmonary embolism. Crit Care. Published 20 May 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →