Early discharge and outpatient treatment of patients admitted for acute pulmonary embolism.

We read with great interest the study by MOORES et al. [1]. The authors propose that patients admitted for acute pulmonary embolism and classified as Pulmonary Embolism Severity Index (PESI) class III could be more appropriately risk-stratified by recalculating the PESI score 48 h after admission (PESI48). 83 out of 304 PESI class III patients were reclassified as low risk (defined as PESI48 class I and II) while 16 were reclassified into classes IV or V, which, according to the authors, led to an overall net improvement in risk reclassification estimated at 54%. Patients re-categorised as low risk had a mortality rate of 1.2% as opposed to 11.3% in those who remained high risk (PESI48oIII).