Principal Investigator: Sarah Fowler, Ph.D.

he Biostatistics Center serves as the Data Coordinating Center (DCC) for a multi-center study of patients with suspected pulmonary embolism (PE) in order to determine the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of contrast enhanced spiral computed tomography (spiral CT) for the diagnosis of acute PE. PIOPED II involves an established group of investigators at nine institutions in addition to the DCC. Spiral CT is a minimally invasive diagnostic test. Appropriate use of spiral CT in a diagnostic strategy could reduce or eliminate the need for more invasive tests such as ventilation/perfusion lung scans, compression ultrasound of the lower extremities, and digital subtraction angiography. Data will be collected on 1068 patients with suspected PE who will be followed for 6 months. The DCC will coordinate distribution of scan images to readers throughout the clinical centers for final interpretation and conduct analyses of study results. Funded by NHLBI R01 HL63942-01, 2000- 2004.