Abstract
Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a significant cause of hospitalization, morbidity and mortality and frequently triggers referral to critical care services. Critically ill patients are also at increased risk of developing venous thrombo-embolism (VTE) and acute PE. Critical care clinicians should be confident in their approach to the patient with suspected and diagnosed PE. Furthermore, the co-morbid conditions in this patient group may present additional challenges both in diagnosis (e.g. safe access to radiology) and management (e.g. absolute and relative contraindications to anticoagulation/thrombolysis in critically ill patients). This brief review summarizes the contemporary evidence base regarding both diagnosis and treatment strategies and draws upon this to suggest a simple algorithm for investigation, risk stratification and management, particularly tailored to patients within a critical care setting.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 126-132 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine |
Volume | 18 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Mar 2017 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Anticoagulation
- computed tomography pulmonary angiogram (CTPA)
- embolectomy
- IVC filter
- massive pulmonary embolism
- pulmonary embolism
- submassive pulmonary embolism
- thrombolysis
- venous thrombo-embolism (VTE)