Westermark sign
From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
In chest radiography, the Westermark sign is a sign that represents a focus of oligemia (leading to collapse of vessel) seen distal to a pulmonary embolism (PE).[1] While the chest x-ray is normal in the majority of PE cases,[2] the Westermark sign is seen in 2% of patients.[3]
The sign results from a combination of:
- the dilation of the pulmonary arteries proximal to the embolus and
- the collapse of the distal vasculature creating the appearance of a sharp cut off on chest radiography.
Sensitivity and specificity
The Westermark sign, like Hampton's hump (a wedge shaped, pleural based consolidation associated with pulmonary infarction), has a low sensitivity (11%) and high specificity (92%) for the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism.[4]
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Introduction to Chest Radiography. http://www.med-ed.virginia.edu/courses/rad/cxr/index.html
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Gurney J. CT: Diagnosis of Pulmonary Embolism. chestx-ray.com. Available at: http://www.chestx-ray.com/Lectures/PulmEmbLecture/PulmEmbolus.pdf. Accessed on: November 13, 2006.
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