Confirmation by spiral CT of a partially occlusive thrombus of the right pulmonary artery suggested by a V/Q lung scan.

Findings on perfusion and ventilation imaging in a 24-year-old woman with anterior chest pain were consistent with pulmonary embolism involving the right lung. An astute physician raised the possibility of a thrombus occluding the right pulmonary artery, and subsequent spiral computed tomography confirmed the suspicion of an occluding thrombus at that site. Had spiral computed tomography been done first, the diagnosis would have been made much more rapidly.