No abstract

Air travel is a risk factor for PTE, and the incidence of PTE increases with the duration of the air travel. However, the low incidence of PTE among long-distance passengers, similar to that observed in other international airports, does not justify social alarm.

In patients with a first episode of acute symptomatic PE, the presence of concomitant DVT is an independent predictor of death in the ensuing 3 months after diagnosis. Assessment of the thrombotic burden should assist with risk stratification of patients with acute PE.

The assessment of risk and appropriate treatment of patients with acute pulmonary embolism (PE) remains a challenge.The prognostic performance of cardiac troponin I (cTnI) in predicting 30-day all-cause mortality was prospectively assessed in consecutive haemodynamically stable patients with PE.The present study included 318 haemodynamically stable patients with PE. During the 30-day study period, 23 (7%) patients died. cTnI was elevated (o0.1 ng?mL -1 ) in 102 (32%) patients. An age .65 yrs, systolic blood pressure ,120 mmHg and severity of illness assessed using the PE severity index (PESI) were significantly associated with an increased risk for mortality, but no significant association was found between elevation of cTnI and 30-day mortality in a logistic regression analysis. When only fatal PE was considered, multivariate analysis showed that severity of illness using the PESI and an elevated cTnI (odds ratio 3.7, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.1-12.8) were associated with a significant increase in the risk for death. The negative predictive value (95% CI) of a negative cTnI for mortality was 93 (90-97)%.In conclusion, in haemodynamically stable patients with acute pulmonary embolism, cardiac troponin I was not an independent predictor of 30-day all-cause mortality, although it did predict fatal pulmonary embolism.

Index and troponin testing for the selection of low-risk patients with acute symptomatic pulmonary embolism. J Thromb Haemost 2010; 8: 517-22.Summary. Background: The combination of the Pulmonary Embolism Severity Index (PESI) and troponin testing could help physicians identify appropriate patients with acute pulmonary embolism (PE) for early hospital discharge. Methods: This prospective cohort study included a total of 567 patients from a single center registry with objectively confirmed acute symptomatic PE. On the basis of the PESI, each patient was classified into one of five classes (I-V). At the time of hospital admission, patients had troponin I (cTnI) levels measured. The endpoint of the study was all-cause mortality within 30 days after diagnosis. We calculated the mortality rates in four patient groups: group 1, PESI class I-II plus cTnI < 0.1 ng mL . Results: The study cohort had a 30-day mortality of 10% [95% confidence interval (CI), 7.6-12.5%]. Mortality rates in the four groups were 1.3%, 14.2%, 0% and 15.4%, respectively. Compared with nonelevated cTnl, the low-risk PESI had a higher negative predictive value (NPV) (98.9% vs. 90.8%) and negative likelihood ratio (NLR) (0.1 vs. 0.9) for predicting mortality. The addition of non-elevated cTnI to low-risk PESI did not improve the NPV or the NLR compared with either test alone. Conclusions: Compared with cTnl testing, PESI classification more accurately identified patients with PE who are at low risk of all-cause death within 30 days of presentation.