Source: Annual Congress 2006 - Pulmonary hypertension: thromo-embolic processes
Disease area: Pulmonary vascular diseases

Abstract

Background: The diagnosis of any type of pulmonary embolism (i.e, thromboembolic, neoplasic, others) is very difficult in clinical practice. Many patients died without suspicion of this condition. Objective: To describe the characteristics of patients that had any type of pulmonary embolus in autopsy and to identify if there was antemortem suspicion of this disease. Setting: General tertiary university hospital with 728 beds. Design: Retrospective case study. Methods: We reviewed all adult autopsy reports from 1996 to 2000 and respective medical records. If there was mentioned in autopsy report any type of pulmonary embolus, the case was included in analysis. Antemortem suspicion was considered if it was clearly described in medical records. Results: In study period, 166 autopsies were performed. Pulmonary embolism were founded in 16 cases (9.6%). Mean age of patients was 58.5 years (SE 36.1), 9 were female (56.2%). The types of pulmonary embolism were thromboembolic in 10 (62.5%) and neoplasic in 6 (37.5%). The primary tumor was stomach in two, lung in two, colon in one and liver in another. Only in two cases (12.5%) there was suspicion of pulmonary embolism. Conclusion: Pulmonary embolism was not a rare finding in autopsies. Thromboembolism is a main type of pulmonary embolism. A majority of cases in which autopsies were performed did not have antemortem suspicion of this diagnosis.

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M. B. Gazzana, M. M. Knorst, S. S. Menna Barreto, M. Cerski (Porto Alegre, Brazil). Different types of pulmonary embolism in autopsies at a tertiary university hospital in Brazil, 1996-2000. Eur Respir J 2006; 28: Suppl. 50, 2371

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