Cardiology Letters 2017, 26(5):276-281

Mortality of patients with acute pulmonary embolism

Adamcová M, Koller T, Petrovič T, Payer J

V. interná klinika Lekárská fakulta Univerzita Komenského v Bratislave a UNB, Nemocnica Ružinov, Bratislava, Slovenská republika

Aim: Acute pulmonary embolism is a relatively common and potentially fatal disease. The authors aim to examine 30-day mortality of patients with the suspicion of pulmonary embolism.

Patients and methods: 286 patients admitted to hospital with dyspnea were accepted in the study. Apart from 30-day mortality the authors observed the correlations of some laboratory parameters commonly tested in a patient presenting with dyspnea (i.e. CRP, D-dimer, Troponin T, NTproBNP) with the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism and with 30-day mortality in the subgroup with approved pulmonary embolism, or in the subgroup without pulmonary embolism.

Results: In the observed 286 patients we found 175 cases of pulmonary embolism, while in 111 cases the CT-pulmoangiography was negative. The only statistically significant difference was observed in levels of D-dimer (4.995 ug/ml in patients without pulmonary embolism vs. 7.456 ug/ml in patients with pumonary embolism, p=0.0001) and in levels of CRP (48.828 mg/l vs. 55.963 mg/l, p=0.0032). In the group with proved pulmonary embolism the 30-day mortality rate was 3.61% (6 patients), while in the group without PE the mortality rate was 17.4% (16 patients), p=0.0002. The impact of observed parameters on mortality rate in the subgroup with approved pulmonary embolism could not be evaluated due to the small number of patients who died. In the subgroup of patients without pulmonary embolism the impact of observed laboratory parameters on 30-day mortality was not observed.

Conclusion: The negative result of CT pulmoangiography in dyspnea patients with suspicion of pulmonary embolism represented a higher risk of death within 30 days after the CT examination (3.61% vs 17.4% patients, p=0.0002).

Keywords: venous thromboembolism; pulmonary embolism; 30-day mortality

Published: May 1, 2017  Show citation