Pulmonary embolism in hospital practice

doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7534.156

BMJ 2006;332:156-160 (21 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7534.156

Practice

Pulmonary embolism in hospital practice

Grace V Robinson, specialist registrar¹

¹ Department of Respiratory Medicine, Royal Berkshire and Battle Hospitals NHS Trust, Reading RG1 5AN gracevrobinson@yahoo.co.uk

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

A pulmonary embolism is an obstruction of part of the pulmonaryvascular tree, usually caused by a thrombus that has travelledfrom a distant site—for example, the deep veins in theleg. The annual incidence is 60-70 per 100 000¹ ^w1; it is acommon cause of breathlessness and pleuritic pain.

Pulmonary embolism has an untreated mortality of about 30% andis the commonest cause of death after elective surgery (accountingfor up to 15% of all post-operative deaths).² ^w2 It is the commonestcause of maternal death in the United Kingdom.³

Most thrombi are generated in the deep venous system of thelower leg and pelvis. Venous stasis is increased by immobilityand dehydration, which leads to the accumulation of clottingfactors and platelets. Up to 50% of leg thrombi embolise; clotsabove the knee do so more commonly than clots below the knee.⁴^w3 Large clots may lodge at the . . . [Full text of this article]

Add to CiteULike CiteULike Add to Complore Complore Add to Connotea Connotea Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us Add to Digg Digg Add to Reddit Reddit Add to Technorati Technorati What's this?

Relevant Articles

A very British muddle: Jane Smith
BMJ 2006 332: 0. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Venous thromboembolism: Stockings are important: Daniel A Shaerf
BMJ 2006 332: 364. [Extract] [Full Text]

Venous thromboembolism: Heparins are of porcine origin: Colin White
BMJ 2006 332: 364. [Extract] [Full Text]

Pulmonary embolism in hospital practice: Certain crucial procedures were omitted: Adrian J B Brady
BMJ 2006 332: 304. [Extract] [Full Text]

Pulmonary embolism in hospital practice: View from primary care is chest pain and breathlessness, but not together: John Sharvill
BMJ 2006 332: 304. [Extract] [Full Text]

Severe hepatic injury and adulterated Chinese medicines: Vincent Lai, Amanda Smith, Douglas Thorburn, and V S Raman
BMJ 2006 332: 304-305. [Extract] [Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

Shaerf, D. A (2006). Venous thromboembolism: stockings are important.. BMJ 332: 364-364 [Full text]
White, C. (2006). Venous thromboembolism: heparins are of porcine origin.. BMJ 332: 364-364 [Full text]
Brady, A. J B (2006). Pulmonary embolism in hospital practice: certain crucial procedures were omitted.. BMJ 332: 304-304 [Full text]
Sharvill, J. (2006). Pulmonary embolism in hospital practice: View from primary care is chest pain and breathlessness, but not together. BMJ 332: 304-304 [Full text]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Pulmonary embolism in hospital practice: troponin, CT pulmonary angiography and echo are crucial in significant PTE.: Adrian J.B. Brady
bmj.com, 23 Jan 2006 [Full text]
View from Primary care, chest pain and breathlessness but not together: john sharvill
bmj.com, 25 Jan 2006 [Full text]
Probabilities are numbers not states: GH Hall
bmj.com, 27 Jan 2006 [Full text]
The obstetric perspective: Murray JM Luckas, et al.
bmj.com, 30 Jan 2006 [Full text]
'Everyone' misquotes BTS guidance: Peter D Strouhal
bmj.com, 1 Feb 2006 [Full text]
Further orthopaedic risk factors: David T Loveday
bmj.com, 2 Feb 2006 [Full text]
Wells score: fahim hassan
bmj.com, 6 Feb 2006 [Full text]
DVT and varicose veins: Duncan Drury, et al.
bmj.com, 18 Feb 2006 [Full text]
Sensitivity of CT in pulmonary embolism: pradeep narayan, et al.
bmj.com, 20 Feb 2006 [Full text]
Diagnosis and treatment of venous thromboembolism in arthroplasty patients: Robert A. E. Clayton, et al.
bmj.com, 20 Feb 2006 [Full text]
Intravenous drug use is an important cause of Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT): Arabella G Nott, et al.
bmj.com, 6 Mar 2006 [Full text]
Overtreatment of pulmonary emboli: Ian J Runcie
bmj.com, 26 Feb 2009 [Full text]
Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia and thrombosis as a cause of pulmonary embolism should not be forgotten: Thein H Oo
bmj.com, 2 Mar 2009 [Full text]