Wells score and Pulmonary Embolism Rule Out Criteria in preventing over investigation of pulmonary embolism in emergency departments.

Introduction: Unnecessary diagnostic tests are usually ordered to most of the patients with dyspnea or pleuritic chest pain, because of the worse outcomes of missed diagnosis of pulmonary embolism (PE). To identify rates and causes of over investigation for PE and to search whether it was possible to reduce this over investigation by using Wells score and Pulmonary Embolism Rule Out Criteria (PERC).

Materials And Methods: A retrospective observational cohort study performed in an emergency department of a tertiary care university hospital.

Delay in diagnosis of pulmonary thromboembolism in emergency department: is it still a problem?

Background And Aim: Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a common and serious disease that can result in death unless emergent diagnosis is made and treatment is initiated. In this study, we aimed to identify whether there is still a delay in the diagnosis of PE and to identify the time to delay in diagnosis and factors leading to this delay.

Methods: This is a prospective observational cohort study performed in an emergency department (ED) of a tertiary care university hospital between September 2008 and September 2010.