Pulmonary Embolism

Abstract

An elderly, obese cardiac patient confined to bed after pelvic or leg surgery represents a composite of circumstances favoring pulmonary embolism. There is little comfort in knowing that most pulmonary emboli are small, since almost all patients dying of large pulmonary emboli have had small ones previously. When the diagnosis is suspected, treatment cannot wait for confirmation. Half of the deaths occur within 30 minutes.