title: Deferral of assessment of pulmonary embolism.
abstract: We evaluated a simplified algorithm for safely postponing diagnostic imaging for pulmonary embolism (PE). At the index visit, patients were identified as being at high or low risk of PE; the former received full dosage low molecular weight heparin while the latter were left untreated until performance of diagnostic imaging (max 72 hours). During this period, no thromboembolic events occurred in low-risk patients (0/211, 0.% [upper 95% CI 0.9%]); only one event occurred in those at high-risk (1/125, 0.8% [upper 95% CI, 1.2]). Our study demonstrates that diagnostic imaging for PE can be safely deferred for up to 3 days.
authors.affiliation: U.O di Ematologia con trapianto, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Policlinico Paolo Giaccone, Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy. sergio.siragusa @unipa.it
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Siragusa
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Malato
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Falaschi
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Porro
authors.forename: Raffaela
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Anastasio
authors.forename: Antonino
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Giarratano
authors.forename: Lucio
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lo Coco
authors.forename: Maria Cristina
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Buonanno
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Maggi
authors.forename: Maria Antonietta
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Bressan
authors.forename: Guglielmo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mariani
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000465:Algorithms; D000925:Anticoagulants / Q000627:therapeutic use; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005260:Female; D005338:Fibrin Fibrinogen Degradation Products / Q000032:analysis; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D012306:Risk; D013923:Thromboembolism / Q000517:prevention & control; D019851:Thrombophilia / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D013997:Time Factors; D036542:Tomography, Spiral Computed; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D020246:Venous Thrombosis / Q000517:prevention & control; D014692:Ventilation-Perfusion Ratio
chemical_list: D000925:Anticoagulants; D005338:Fibrin Fibrinogen Degradation Products; C036309:fibrin fragment D