Evaluation of pulmonary embolism patients in a tertiary hospital with clinical, radiological and laboratory features

Objective: Pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) presents with a wide range of symptoms, outcomes, and radiographic features. We evaluated the clinical, laboratory, and radiological features of PTE. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on patients diagnosed with pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) between 2019 and 2021 at the Department of Chest Diseases, Abant Izzet Baysal University Hospital. Patients with suspected acute PTE and those diagnosed with pulmonary embolism based on CT angiography were included. Patients with chronic PTE, as diagnosed by ventilation/perfusion scintigraphy, were excluded. Results: Of the 100 patients included, 42% were female and 58% were male. The mean age of the patients was 70.50 ± 13.54 years. The most common symptom was dyspnea, followed by cough and chest pain. Troponin I levels were elevated in 62 individuals. D-dimer concentrations of all patients were above the upper limit of 0.55 mg/L. Massive PTE was seen in 15% of patients, submassive PTE in 40%, and non-massive PTE in 45%. In addition, systolic pulmonary artery pressure (sPAP) was high in 67% of the cases. Patients with elevated sPAP had a higher mean age, had received more thrombolytic therapy, and had a higher rate of major and submassive pulmonary embolisms. Troponin I values were seen to be elevated in massive PTE, as expected (p=0.024). D-dimer values were significantly higher in patients with pulmonary embolism in the main branch (p=0.018). Conclusion: In light of the data we obtained from our study, we believe that a detailed cardiovascular system evaluation, including Troponin I and systolic pulmonary artery pressure measurements, is very important in the diagnosis process and in predicting the prognosis after diagnosis in patients presenting with suspected pulmonary thromboembolism.