Pulmonary embolism in an emergency care unit of Southern Italy: Evaluation of predictive factors from clinical history and physical exam

An early diagnosis of pulmonary embolism (PE) improves outcome. Therefore, PE should be diagnosed in Emergency Care Units (ECU) at admission. Clinical algorithms support the clinician in this task, although performance is biased by differences in risk factors prevalent in different populations. The clinical conditions predictive of PE were evaluated in subjects from Southern Italy accessing ECU for dyspnea/chest pain. Retrospective clinical data were obtained by electronic retrieving from a hospital database. Data from 8177 patients (age 18-90 years, 54 with PE) were collected from years 2007-2013. Previous history of PE, thrombosis and/or phlebitis, rheumatic diseases, respiratory failure,…