Significance of Detectable Deep Venous Thrombosis in Patients with Pulmonary Embolism

In patients with pulmonary embolism (PE), does coexistence of detectable deep venous thrombosis (DVT) have prognostic significance? Researchers in Spain addressed this question in a prospective cohort study of emergency department patients with acute PE confirmed by imaging. All patients additionally underwent compression ultrasonography of the lower extremities.

Of 707 enrolled patients with PE, 51% had concomitant DVT. During 3 months of follow-up, all-cause mortality was significantly higher in patients with DVT than in those without DVT (15% vs. 6%). In multivariate analysis adjusting for numerous potential confounding variables, significant predictors of death were concomitant DVT (hazard ratio, 2.1), cancer (HR, 3.7) and immobilization…