Pulmonary Embolism in Acute Exacerbations of COPD

Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a notoriously difficult clinical diagnosis, and symptoms of PE can overlap with those of acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Further, the inflammation of COPD exacerbations might increase PE risk. These authors conducted a systematic review to determine the prevalence of PE in patients with acute exacerbations of COPD.

Inclusion requirements were that studies be prospective and cross-sectional and use computed tomography angiography to diagnose PE. Seven studies, involving 880 patients, met these criteria.

The overall pooled rate of PE was 16%, but there was high heterogeneity among studies. Notably, in the only study that recruited patients from the emergency department (as opposed …