TY - JOUR T1 - Incidence of Pulmonary Embolism in an Emergency Department Cohort Evaluated with a Simple Symptom-based Diagnostic Algorithm JF - In Vivo JO - In Vivo SP - 215 LP - 220 VL - 27 IS - 2 AU - JOACHIM GRUETTNER AU - THOMAS WALTER AU - MERLE BOLTE AU - DARIUSH HAGHI AU - SONJA SUDARSKI AU - THOMAS HENZLER Y1 - 2013/03/01 UR - http://iv.iiarjournals.org/content/27/2/215.abstract N2 - Background: Although complex scores were recommended for diagnosis of pulmonary embolism (PE), acceptance in clinical practice is limited. In our Emergency Department a symptom-based algorithm for patients with suspected PE including computed tomographic pulmonary angiography (CTPA) and D-dimer testing was implemented. Patients and Methods: The cases of 492 patients presenting with either chest pain, dyspnea or syncope for whom this algorithm was applied, were retrospectively analyzed with respect to the incidence of PE, D-dimer and high-sensitive troponin levels. Results: Our algorithm detected PE in 59 out of 492 patients. D-Dimer levels were significantly higher in the PE group than in the patients without PE (p<0.0001). High-sensitive troponin was significantly increased in patients with central PE compared to other patients (p<0.01). Conclusion: Our data demonstrate the utility and practicability of our symptom-based algorithm in combination with D-dimer testing and the use of CTPA in patients with suspected PE. ER -