Objective: To assess the accuracy of diagnosis and efficacy of management of pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) and the related risk factors in hospitalized patients.
Methods: The clinical data of 149 inpatients with PTE admitted to Anzhen hospital from Jan 1985 to Dec 1999 were reviewed. The clinical epidemiological profile including approaches of diagnosis and treatment and prognosis in three different time intervals (1985 approximately 1989, 1990 approximately 1994, 1995 approximately 1999) were compared.
Results: There was a four time increases of the annual admitted PTE cases in 1995 approximately 1999 period as compared with the former two periods. Mortality fell from 42.0% to 9.0%. In the first period (1985 approximately 1989) 83.3% of patients were diagnosed based on clinical symptoms only and 4.2% on ECT, as compared with 75.0% on ECT, 15% on catheterization and only 7.8% on simply clinical symptoms in the last period (1994 approximately 1999). False or misdiagnosis rate was 57.7% in those patients on admission. Male Patients < 40yrs were significantly more than female (P < 0.05). Cardiovascular intervention operation may be an important risk factor inducing PTE.
Conclusion: There was an increasing trend of diagnosis PTE in inpatients. Owing to the improvement of diagnosis, mortality significantly decreased in the last ten years.