In the United States, over 50,000 people die every year as a result of a pulmonary embolism (PE), a blood clot in the arteries of the lungs. It occurs when a blood clot dislodges from a vein and gets trapped in the lung arteries. Most blood clots form in the deep veins of the legs and thighs; this is known as deep vein thrombosis (DVT). To determine if someone has developed PE follow these steps.
Instructions
1. Look for any difficulty of breathing or breathing rapidly.
2. Look for sharp chest pain that gets exaggerated while taking a deep breath.
3. Look for any blood in sputum.
4. Send labs to check blood D-dimer levels. D-dimer is a substance in the blood that is often increased in people with PE.
5. Order a High Resolution or Spiral computed tomography of lungs. This is a highly sensitive and specific test to confirm the presence of PE.
6. Order a ventilation/perfusion lung scan. Nowadays this test is only performed in people who cannot be subjected to the High Resolution CT scan of lungs due either to allergy to the intravenous contrast material (which is a dye injected in to the blood prior to the CT scan), poor kidney function or the size of the patient being too big for the CT machine.
7. Order the angiography of the lung arteries to diagnose PE but only if surgical treatment of the PE is anticipated. Angiography is considered the "gold standard" test to diagnose PE.
Tags: blood clot, High Resolution, lung arteries