Pulmonary embolism II
Pulmonary embolism is one of the most frequent life threatening diseases and according to statistics it is the third most common cause of cardiovascular mortality (after myocardial infarction and stroke).
The goal of this algorithm is to show that pulmonary embolism is not a rare disease and that one should keep it in mind during a diagnostic process. This algorithm also points out the fact that pulmonary embolism occurs moreover in younger population because of very widespread risk factors which are for example smoking, a use of oral contraceptive pills or long flights by airplane.
Review
Pulmonary embolism is the third most common cause of cardiovascular mortality. The diagnostics is not very complicated but man must think of it. Early diagnosis and stratification of risks is essential in prevention of severe course and in prevention of complications. The most prominent diagnostic modality is CT angiography-quick, available and morphologically very precise. In case of contraindications it is possible to use lung scintigraphy. In haemodynamically unstable patients, urgent echocardiography is very valuable.
Sources
CHROBÁK, Ladislav. Propedeutika vnitřního lékařství. 2nd ed. Praha: Grada, 2007. ISBN 978-80-247-1309-0.
ČEŠKA, Richard, ŠTULC, Tomáš, Vladimír TESAŘ a Milan LUKÁŠ, ed. Interna. 2nd, actualized edition. In Prague: Stanislav Juhaňák - Triton, 2015. ISBN 9788073878856.
VAVERA, Zdeněk. Plicní embolie ve světle nových doporučení. Intervenční a akutní kardiologie [online]. 2015, 14(2), 77-83 [cit. 2018-04-03]. Available at: https://www.iakardiologie.cz/pdfs/kar/2015/02/06.pdf
ROKYTA, Richard, Martin HUTYRA a Pavel JANSA. 2014 ESC Guidelines on the diagnosis and management of acute pulmonary embolism. Summary document prepared by the Czech Society of Cardiology. Cor et Vasa [online]. 2015, 57(4), e275-e296 [cit. 2018-04-03]. DOI: 10.1016/j.crvasa.2015.05.009. ISSN 00108650. Available at: http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0010865015000600
