Radionuclide lung scintigraphy in the evaluation of suspected acute and chronic pulmonary embolism: methods, interpretation, and lexicon. A basic user guide for the clinician

Lung scintigraphy has served as a cornerstone in the evaluation of pulmonary embolism for over 5 decades and currently retains an important role in the evaluation of both acute and chronic disease. This article elucidates the basic physiologic principles, choice of radiopharmaceuticals, imaging methods, and interpretation criteria used in lung scintigraphy and includes a lexicon of lung scintigraphy and nuclear medicine terminology which will be helpful to the yet uninitiated.