The patient with possible pulmonary embolism

Around 15% of patients with a pulmonary embolism (PE) die; the majority of deaths from PE are identified only at post-mortem. Symptoms and signs of PE are non-specific and cannot be used to make a definite diagnosis. There are a number of published scoring systems to help determine the clinical probability of a PE. If the diagnosis of PE seems reasonable, start treatment with full-dose low molecular weight heparin before confirmatory tests (e.g. D-Dimer and CT pulmonary angiography). Lifelong therapy with warfarin should be considered for a second event, a life-threatening event or in patients with associated cardiorespiratory disease.