Does Chest Pain Reproduced by Palpation Rule Out PE?

Although both musculoskeletal pain and the pain of pulmonary embolism (PE) can vary with breathing, musculoskeletal pain is more commonly reproduced by movement or palpation, whereas the PE-associated pain is generally provoked only by respiration. To test the diagnostic value of reproducibility of chest pain by palpation, researchers in France and Switzerland analyzed a database of 965 consecutive outpatients (average age, 61; 58% female) with suspected PE who were gleaned from a prospective PE management study . Patients were included if they had acute onset of new or worsening chest pain or shortness of breath that had no other obvious cause. Exclusion criteria included allergy to contrast agents, anticoagulant use, renal insufficiency, …