ANTITHROMBOTIC THERAPY

Acute pulmonary embolism (PE) is a common cause of death, accounting for 50,000 to 200,000 deaths annually. 1-3 As many as 95 % of patients who die do so prior to diagnosis, with the majority of deaths occur-ring in untreated patients. 3-8 For patients who receive treatment, the 14- and 90-day mortality rates are approximately 10 % and 20%, respectively. 5,9-11 Barritt and Jordan 12 demonstrated that IV heparin improved overall survival for patients with PE. Oth-ers have confi rmed these fi ndings and have shown that therapeutic anticoagulation reduces rates of recurrent venous thromboembolism (VTE), which is Background: Acute pulmonary embolism (PE) may be rapidly fatal if not diagnosed and treated. IV heparin reduces mortality and recurrence of PE, but the relationship between survival and timing of anticoagulation has not been extensively studied. Methods: We studied 400 consecutive patients in the ED diagnosed with acute PE by CT scan angiog