Introduction You are asked to review a 68-year-old woman with shortness of breath on the surgical HDU. She is 48 hours after an anterior resection for bowel cancer. Her blood pressure is 140/89 and she has saturations of 94% on 35%...
Clinical features are non-specific and have been shown to be of limited value in confirming the diagnosis Features range from being relatively asymptomatic to significant cardiovascular compromise – they can be difficult to identify in the sedated,...
Common with an annual incidence of 60-70/100,000 Half of cases develop VTE whilst in hospital or long term care Sub-massive PEs account for ~20% of diagnosed PEs Often underdiagnosed in critically ill patients May occur in as many as 10% of...
Mortality rates range in studies range from 6% – 15% In 2004 this equated to 370 000 deaths across Europe 34% died suddenly or within a few hours of the acute event 59% diagnosed after deathOnly 7% who died early were correctly diagnosed with PE before...
Can be considered according to Virchow’s triad: Venous Stasis Prolonged bed rest Prolonged air travel (>8 hours) Fracture of lower limbsHip or knee replacementSpinal cord replacementVaricose veins Hypercoagulability Malignancy (particularly metastatic...
