Abstract
The aim of our study is to investigate how the presence of DVT affects the clinical course of symptomatic PE.
Methods: This is a post hoc analysis of data from a single center prospective study on clinical characteristics of pulmonary embolism (PE) according to thrombotic burden. The study includes 331 consecutive patients with symptomatic PE, verified by 64-slice computer tomography. The thrombotic burden were calculated using Mastora score. 305 of 331 patients had ultrasound examination for deep venous thrombosis (DVT) and were divided into two groups according to the presence or absence of DVT. The two groups were compared with respect to epidemiological data (age, sex, predisposing factors), clinical characteristics (hemodynamics, D- dimer, systolic blood pressure in arteria pulmonalis (PAPs) on echocardiography, arterial blood gases ( pO2, pCO2) thrombotic burden and one- month mortality.
Results: 141 patients (46.23%) had DVT and 164 (53.77%) had no DVT.
Figure 1. Clinical characteristics of PE in DVT and non-DVT groups
Variables | DVT141 | Non- DVT164 | p value |
age in years | 60.22±14.94 | 62.44± 16.98 | 0.23 |
Male gender (N of pts) | 78 | 90 | 1.0 |
Unstable hemodynamic (N of pts) | 16 | 5 | 0.005 |
D-dimer | 11.04± 10.60 | 6,49 ±8,76 | 0.0002 |
PAPs | 40.20±16.37 | 40.89±19.54 | 0.74 |
pCO2 | 30.81±7.94 | 32.59 ±7.35 | 0.049 |
pO2 | 66.94±17.27 | 67.42±15,62 | 0.81 |
One-month mortality (N of pts) | 9 | 8 | 0.623 |
The patients with DVT had higher thrombotic burden (Р<0.0001) and DVT is prognostic factor for PE with massive burden with OR 2.82 (р <0.0001).
Conclusion: The patients with symptomatic PE who had DVT presented more often with hyperventilation and unstable hemodynamics and had heavier thrombotic burden, compared to those without DVT.
- Copyright ©the authors 2017