Many adults present to the emergency department with chest pain and/or shortness of breath. The majority of adult patients with these symptoms do not have a pulmonary embolism (PE) that requires investigation with a CT pulmonary angiogram (CTPA) or ventilation perfusion (VQ) lung scan. CTPAs or VQ scans expose patients to ionizing radiation that has the potential to increase patients’ lifetime risk of cancer. CTPAs also place patients at risk for potential allergic reaction and acute kidney injury from the intravenous contrast required for the CTs. Imaging also increases length of stay and may contribute to misdiagnosis. Evidence demonstrate that physicians should not order CTPAs or VQ scans to diagnose PE until risk stratification with a clinical decision rule (Wells score, PERC rule) has been applied and d-dimer biomarker results are obtained for those patients where it is indicated. For high-risk populations in which the clinical decision rules have not been validated (i.e., pregnancy, hypercoagulability disorders), physicians are urged to exert their clinical judgment.
Sources:
Kline JA, et al. Prospective multicenter evaluation of the pulmonary embolism rule-out criteria. J Thromb Haemost. 2008 May;6(5):772-80. PMID: 18318689.
Singh B, et al. Diagnostic accuracy of pulmonary embolism rule-out criteria: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Ann Emerg Med. 2012 Jun;59(6):517-20.e1-4. PMID: 22177109.
Wells PS, et al. Excluding pulmonary embolism at the bedside without diagnostic imaging: management of patients with suspected pulmonary embolism presenting to the emergency department by using a simple clinical model and d-dimer. Ann Intern Med. 2001 Jul 17;135(2):98-107. PMID: 11453709.
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Patient Pamphlet: Avoid Unnecessary Treatments in the ED: Talking with the doctor can help you make the best decision