title: Pulmonary embolism.
abstract: Pulmonary embolism (PE) is an important health problem and often a major clinical challenge, not only because of the low specificity of its clinical manifestations but also because of the increasing number of medical circumstances that are risk factors for this illness and the importance of early identification, since prompt and appropriate treatment can decrease mortality from this disease by about 25%. In recent years research on PE has been extensive, directed mainly at trying to determine and characterize its risk factors, establish new clinical probability algorithms, develop new diagnostic methods and put existing ones into perspective, seek new therapeutic approaches (pharmacological and non-pharmacological), and above all establish protocols that can guide the clinician from the stage of clinical suspicion to measures to prevent recurrence. It was the authors' aim to review the most significant literature on this subject, in order to produce a text that reflects the state of the art concerning PE and that can be used as a guide in the clinical approach to this pathology.
authors.affiliation: Serviço de Cardiologia, Hospitais da Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cordeiro
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Monteiro
authors.forename: Dinis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vieira
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Parente
authors.forename: Nuno
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Devesa
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Moura
authors.forename: Luís
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Providência
mesh_terms: D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D011379:Prognosis; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D012307:Risk Factors