PULMONARY EMBOLISM

This condition occurs when a blood clot suddenly blocks an artery of the lung. It is a serious and life threatening condition. Estimates are that over 650,000 Americans suffer PE annually.

Despite the frequency and gravity of PE, the diagnosis is often missed. Some estimates are that over 400,000 cases of PE are missed every year in the emergency room, resulting in over 100,000 deaths of patients who would have survived with proper diagnosis and treatment. It is the third most common cause of death in the United States.

Clinical judgment alone is insufficient to make the diagnosis. There are numerous risk factors and accurate diagnosis requires the health care provider to consider PE in the list of possible causes of the patient’s condition, especially because of the dire consequences of a failure to make the diagnosis. The failure of the physician to consider the possibility of PE when risk factors are present may deprive the patient of the chance of survival. It is so lethal that the diagnosis should be actively considered in every patient who presents with any chest symptoms that cannot be proven to have another cause.