BACKGROUND The cause of acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is often difficult to determine. Pulmonary embolism may be a trigger of acute dyspnoea in patients with COPD. AIM To determine the prevalence of pulmonary embolism in patients with acute exacerbation of COPD. METHODS 123 consecutive patients admitted to the emergency departments of two academic teachi...

Reports of the autopsy incidence of pulmonary embolism in non-surgical general hospital patients’ especially those with coronary heart disease23 have resulted in increasing use of anticoagulant therapy in “medical” patients. The autopsy incidence of pulmonary embolism in patients dying with active tuberculosis has not been stressed in comparable fashion. In a previous report4 I have discussed t...

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major health burden and expected to become the third leading cause of death by 2030 [1, 2]. Acute exacerbations with aggravation of respiratory symptoms are associated with an acceleration of progressive lung function decline and significant worsening of prognosis (in-hospital mortality rate, 10%; 3-year mortality rate, 49%) [2]. Management of p...

Pulmonary embolism is a common cardiovascular emergency, but it is still often misdiagnosed due to its unspecific clinical symptoms. Elevated troponin concentrations are associated with greater morbidity and mortality in patients with pulmonary embolism. Right ventricular ischemia due to increased right ventricular afterload is believed to be underlying mechanism of elevated troponin values in ...

PURPOSE To evaluate a diagnostic strategy for pulmonary embolism that combined clinical assessment, plasma D-dimer measurement, lower limb venous ultrasonography, and helical computed tomography (CT). METHODS A cohort of 965 consecutive patients presenting to the emergency departments of three general and teaching hospitals with clinically suspected pulmonary embolism underwent sequential non...

Recent advances in interventional cardiology, pharmacotherapeutics and modern surgical management in tertiary cardiac care centers have tremendously improved the present treatment of Pulmonary Embolism (PE). CT pulmonary angiography (CTPA), nuclear lung scan (V/Q scan), D-dimer test and modern echocardiography have revolutionized the diagnostic methodology and risk assessment criteria. Cardioge...

OBJECTIVE Massive pulmonary embolism is relatively rare but a potentially life-threatening condition. The purpose of this study was to analyse the outcome of pulmonary embolectomy in registered data from the Japanese Society of Pulmonary Embolism Research (JaSPER). METHODS From 1994 to 2006, 1661 cases of acute pulmonary embolism were registered in the JaSPER database. Retrospective analysis ...

No single non invasive test has sufficient diagnostic accuracy to be used alone for diagnosing or ruling out pulmonary embolism. Therefore, modern diagnostic strategies for pulmonary embolism rely on combinations of non invasive tests such as plasma D-dimer measurement, lower limb venous compression ultrasonography, ventilation-perfusion lung scan and/or spiral CT, the results of which should b...

The incidence of pulmonary embolism and the number of clinically missed diagnoses of it in necropsies carried out between 1960 and 1984 at this department were investigated. Pulmonary embolism primarily affects elderly people with serious underlying disease; in this study it was found more often in women. The incidence of pulmonary embolism (9% of all necropsies) was unchanged during the period...

Aim Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a known cause of morbidity and mortality in oncology patients. Whilst much of the literature focuses on the detection of incidental PE in this cohort of patients (approximately 4%), little is written about the rate of positive CT Pulmonary Angiograms (CTPA) when PE is clinically suspected. We wanted to assess the rate of positive CTPA specifically amongst oncology...