title: Diagnosis of pulmonary embolism.
abstract: Pulmonary embolism is the third cause of mortality by cardiovascular disease after coronary artery disease and stroke, and its incidence is around 1/1000 per year. During the last two decades, many different non-invasive diagnostic tests have been developed and validated. For hemodynamically stable outpatients, the diagnosis of acute pulmonary embolism mainly rests on the sequential use of clinical assessment, D-dimer measurement and multidetector CT. In patients with a contraindication to CT, lower limb venous ultrasonography and ventilation-perfusion scintigraphy remain valid options. Massive pulmonary embolism is a distinct clinical entity with a specific diagnostic approach. In unstable patients with suspected pulmonary embolism, echocardiography should be the initial test.
authors.affiliation: Geneva university hospital, faculty of medicine, department of medical specialties, division of angiology and hemostasis, Geneva, Switzerland. Electronic address: marc.righini@hcuge.ch.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Righini
authors.affiliation: Geneva university hospital, faculty of medicine, department of medical specialties, division of angiology and hemostasis, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Helia
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Robert-Ebadi
authors.affiliation: University of Ottawa, Ottawa hospital research institute, department of medicine, Ottawa, Canada; Université de Brest, department of internal medicine, EA 3878, CIC 1412, 29609 Brest, France.
authors.forename: Grégoire
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Le Gal
mesh_terms: D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods; D005338:Fibrin Fibrinogen Degradation Products / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D061330:Multidetector Computed Tomography / Q000379:methods; D055503:Protein Multimerization; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D020246:Venous Thrombosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014692:Ventilation-Perfusion Ratio
chemical_list: D005338:Fibrin Fibrinogen Degradation Products; C036309:fibrin fragment D