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Query: UMLS:C0034065 (pulmonary embolism)
 14,979 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism remain important causes of morbidity and mortality. Without prophylaxis, at least 60% of patients undergoing orthopaedic or trauma surgery develop DVT, and the rate may still be as high as 20-45% even with the best prophylaxis available. The rate of thrombosis may be reduced by wider use of established prophylactic measures and targeting more intense prophylaxis to very-high-risk patients. Novel agents such as pentasaccharides and recombinant hirudins may provide more effective prophylaxis in very-high-risk settings, but their optimal use requires accurate assessment of thromboembolic risk. Risk levels are influenced both by the clinical setting and patient factors, such as obesity and malignancy. There is now growing interest in the influence of molecular risk factors, including acquired thrombophilias and congenital coagulation disorders. Activated protein C resistance and hyperhomocysteinaemia have been recently identified as potential risk factors. Further investigations are needed to clarify the individual contribution of different clinical and molecular factors to overall thromboembolic risk, and the effects of interactions between them. Screening for clotting disorders and other additional risk factors may assist identification of very-high-risk patients and allow appropriate targeting of intensive prophylactic therapy.
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PMID:Applying risk assessment models in orthopaedic surgery: effective risk stratification. 1049 32

Antiplatelet drugs have been demonstrated to reduce the incidence of myocardial infarction (MI), stroke or vascular death in patients with vascular disease. There are no data suggesting that antiplatelet therapy acts differently in older people than in younger people and recommendations based on randomised clinical trials are probably generalisable to older people. Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) has been shown to reduce the incidence of non-fatal MI, nonfatal stroke and vascular death in patients with acute MI, a previous MI, angina pectoris or peripheral occlusive arterial disease (POAD), and to reduce cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in patients with a prior ischaemic stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA). It has also been shown to reduce the incidence of thrombus formation after coronary artery bypass graft surgery and percutaneous transluminal angioplasty, and in patients with atrial fibrillation and heart valve replacements. Deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism after surgery are also prevented by aspirin. The available data allows the following recommendations to be made. Aspirin 160 to 325 mg daily should be administered to older men and women without contraindications to aspirin who have acute MI, prior MI, unstable or stable angina pectoris, ischaemic stroke, TIA or POAD, and continued indefinitely to reduce the risk of MI, stroke or vascular death. Aspirin should be started in patients before or immediately after revascularisation, and after heart valve replacement. Older men and women with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation who have contraindications to oral anticoagulant therapy but no contraindications to aspirin should be treated with aspirin 325 mg daily. It is reasonable to treat older men and women without contraindications to aspirin with aspirin 160 to 325 mg daily if they are at high risk for developing new coronary events. The incidence of stroke, MI or vascular death in patients after a stroke or TIA is reduced by ticlopidine. Therefore, ticlopidine 250 mg twice daily may be used in older men and women with a history of stroke or TIA who do not respond to or who cannot tolerate aspirin. Patients at high risk for coronary artery stent thrombosis benefit from combined therapy with aspirin plus ticlopidine. The annual incidence of ischaemic stroke, MI or vascular death was significantly reduced by clopidogrel in the Clopidogrel versus Aspirin in Patients at Risk of Ischemic Events (CAPRIE) trial. Therefore, clopidogrel 75 mg daily may be used in older men and women with symptomatic atherosclerosis who do not respond to or who cannot tolerate aspirin to reduce the incidence of ischaemic stroke, MI or vascular death. It should be noted that the acquisition cost for either ticlopidine or clopidogrel is considerably greater than that for aspirin. Most data indicate that the combination of aspirin and dipyridamole is not more effective than aspirin alone in preventing vascular events, and available data do not support the use of sulfinpyrazone in patients with vascular disease.
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PMID:Antiplatelet agents in the prevention of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in older patients with vascular disease. 1049 69

Pulmonary diseases play a particular role during pregnancy. First, the adaptive hyperventilation of the mother implies sufficient pulmonary reserves, and second, and increasing oxygen consumption of the fetus during pregnancy might be compromised by maternal hypoxemia and could be followed by fetal growth retardation and fetal hypoxemia. Asthma bronchiale is the leading pulmonary disease in pregnancy and is not associated with higher risk for pregnancy and fetus when sufficiently threatened. First line medicaments are beta-2-agonists and steroids. Pneumonia however is a serious menace to the pregnant women, especially when not early diagnosed and correctly treated. Respecting the leading germs, macrolids or wide-spectrum penicillins are used. Tuberculosis has no deleterious effect on pregnancy with early diagnosis and treatment, which follows the usual guidelines during pregnancy with isoniacid, rifampicin and ethambutol. Cystic Fibrosis is not a strict contraindication for a pregnancy, especially for mild clinical forms. However, preconceptional counseling and regular clinical controls before and during pregnancy are indispensible. Deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism are more frequent during pregnancy; the search for risk factors, prophylaxis and treatment are essential to avoid these complications. Heparin is the ideal prophylaxis and treatment in pregnancy, while oral anticoagulants should be avoided because of their effect on the fetus.
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PMID:[Lung diseases in pregnancy]. 1054 31

Deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism are major risks in patients experiencing major trauma. Currently, the American College of Chest Physicians recommends low molecular weight heparin as prophylaxis in trauma patients with identifiable risk factors in the absence of contraindications. Enoxaparin is the only low molecular weight heparin available in the US that has been evaluated to date in this indication. The purpose of this study was to perform incremental cost-effectiveness ratio calculations for enoxaparin versus no prophylaxis as thromboembolic prophylaxis in trauma patients. These calculations demonstrate that a cost of $279.43 would be incurred for each thromboembolic event avoided if enoxaparin 30 mg every 12 h were routinely used as prophylaxis in this population, compared with no prophylaxis. Sensitivity analyses demonstrate that if the incidence of proximal vein thrombosis in patients prophylaxed with enoxaparin approached 1.8%, if the actual rate of these thrombi exceeded 19.4% in untreated patients, or if the cost of the drug was decreased to $15.25 per dose, a cost saving would be experienced in routine prophylaxis with this agent.
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PMID:Deep venous thrombosis prophylaxis in trauma: cost analysis. 1069 Nov 4

Acquired resistance to activated protein C has been reported during oral contraception and pregnancy. Its thrombogenic potential was studied in 41 neurosurgical patients who were enrolled in the placebo group of a thromboprophylaxis trial. Normalized activated protein C sensitivity ratio (nAPC-SR), clotting activity of factors V and VIII, and levels of protein C antigen were measured prior to and at days 3 and 7 after surgery. Bilateral venography was done in all patients at days 8-10 to demonstrate deep vein thrombosis. A lowered nAPC-SR was found in 76% (baseline), 80% (day 3), and 88% (day 7) of patients. It was inversely related to factor VIII clotting activity (p = .0003) and protein C antigen, (p = .02). Deep vein thrombosis was demonstrated in 30% of patients with a normal nAPC-SR and in 23% of patients with a lowered nAPC-SR. Pulmonary embolism was not observed. Multivariate analysis did not identify a lowered nAPC-SR as a thrombotic risk factor, in contrast with gender (women, p = .02) and Quetelet index (> or = 25 kg/m2, p = .006). Our data provide no evidence that acquired activated protein C resistance, frequently found in neurosurgical patients, contributes to their high risk of postoperative deep vein thrombosis.
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PMID:Acquired APC resistance in neurosurgical patients may not be a risk factor for postoperative deep vein thrombosis. 1072 89

Deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, and pulmonary thrombosis in situ are rare in childhood and adolescence [1,2]. Unfortunately, these diagnoses may be unsuspected in a pediatric patient with dyspnea and chest pain. This article illustrates the diagnostic and therapeutic challenges that arose from unrecognized chronic thrombotic disease in an adolescent.
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PMID:Pulmonary thrombosis, homocysteinemia, and reperfusion edema in an adolescent. 1081 82

Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is of clinical importance and carries the short-term risk of pulmonary embolism. Patients undergoing orthopedic surgery are at particular risk of DVT. Pharmacological prophylaxis to prevent thromboembolic events has become standard practice in this patient group. However, DVT may also lead to long-term venous insufficiency, causing disabling symptoms of swelling, chronic pain, and skin ulceration, imposing substantial health-care costs. Prevention of these long-term sequelae of DVT, termed post-thrombotic syndrome (PTS), may be of equal or even greater clinical, economic, and medicolegal significance than avoidance of the short-term effects. Surveys suggest that PTS is present in 30%-70% of patients, 5 years after an initial symptomatic or asymptomatic, proximal or distal DVT. Post-thrombotic syndrome is not reliably prevented by treatment of the initial DVT with anticoagulant therapy or thrombolysis. Therefore, prevention of DVT is the only effective approach to PTS prevention. Pharmacological thromboprophylaxis prevents venographically proven DVT in patients following orthopedic surgery, and is now recommended by North American and European consensus statements. Uncertainties remain, however, regarding the optimal duration of postsurgical prophylaxis.
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PMID:Deep vein thrombosis: beyond the operating table. 1087 26

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the clinical characteristics and mortality in patients with pulmonary embolism during 1995-1998. The diagnosis of pulmonary embolism in 183 patients was confirmed based on the clinical and lung scan findings. Compared to previous studies fewer cases with pulmonary embolism after surgery, immobilisation and history of trauma to lower extremity were noted. Deep vein thrombosis and electrocardiographic signs of acute right ventricular strains were found frequently, and should support the suspicion of pulmonary embolism. A normal plasma fibrin D-dimer was noted in several patients. When using the D-dimer for the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism the result given depends on the assay method used, the assay specific discriminatory level and duration of symptoms. The total one year mortality was 16% whereas the mortality due to pulmonary embolism was 6%.
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PMID:[Characteristics and treatment of acute pulmonary embolism. A study of 183 consecutive patients treated during the period 1995 to 1998]. 1101 87

Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) are relatively common diseases and are amenable to therapy but with a potentially fatal outcome if untreated. The diagnosis can be made in most patients with use of the noninvasive imaging tests, but limitations exist. The standard first choice of investigation in patients with suspected DVT is compression ultrasonography (CUS). As with all tests, there is a potential for false-positive and false-negative results. The latter are especially an issue for calf vein thrombi, and this in part has led to the concept of serial CUS testing of the proximal venous system and not imaging of the calf. The premise of the repeat (serial) CUS test is that only thrombi that extend to the proximal system are clinically relevant, and these thrombi will be detected during subsequent testing. However, despite the safety of the serial CUS testing concept, it is inconvenient and expensive. The standard first choice of investigation in patients with suspected PE, the ventilation-perfusion (V/Q) lung scan is nondiagnostic in most cases. In the past few years, the diagnostic process has improved because of the validation of clinical models that accurately categorize patients as having low (5%), moderate (20% to 30%), or high probability (>60%) for venous thromboembolic disease. Among the improvements this provides is the elimination of serial CUS testing if the ultrasound results are normal and the clinical probability is low in patients with suspected DVT. In patients with suspected PE in whom further testing is necessary, determination of clinical probability allows selection of invasive (angiography) or noninvasive testing (serial ultrasound) in patients with non-high-probability V/Q scans. The fibrin degradation product D-dimer has had a high negative predictive value; negative results with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) tests effectively rule out DVT or PE. In addition, a negative result with less-sentive D-dimer testing and a low clinical probability excludes DVT or PE.
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PMID:Assessment of deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism by the combined use of clinical model and noninvasive diagnostic tests. 1114 Aug 1

Both undetected and clinically evident venous thrombosis and venous thromboembolism (VTE) can seriously impact the prognosis of acutely and/or critically ill patients. Pulmonary embolism (PE) is harder to diagnose in the acutely and/or critically ill, many of whom also have developed respiratory failure for other reasons. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) of the upper and lower extremities can subsequently complicate insertion of central venous catheters, leading to PE, sepsis and septic shock. Recovery from the original critical illness (e.g. weaning from mechanical ventilation) can be adversely affected by these complications. There are recent data suggesting that, for prophylaxis, low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) is more effective than unfractionated heparin (UFH) in critically ill trauma patients, and that high-dose LMWH is more effective than placebo or low-dose LMWH in seriously ill medical patients. In both populations, LMWH appeared safe. While LMWH appears superior to UFH in acute stroke patients to prevent venographically-proven lower-extremity DVT, whether it provides a superior long-term outcome after acute stroke is uncertain. One study found that a high dosage of the LMWH dalteparin was more effective than placebo in preventing left ventricular thrombi after acute myocardial infarction, but there was a significant safety cost. Current questions surrounding prophylaxis of VTE and the use of LMWH in acutely and/or critically ill patients include whether monitoring levels and dosage adjustment in some of these patients would improve outcome, and whether the diagnosis of VTE can be improved so that treatment can be instituted when prophylaxis has failed.
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PMID:Risk assessment and prophylaxis of venous thromboembolism in acutely and/or critically ill patients. 1125 46


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