How to Combat Over-Testing for Patients Suspected of Pulmonary Embolism: A Narrative Review.

ABSTRACT: The diagnosis of PE remains difficult in 2023 because the signs and symptoms are not sensible nor specific. The consequences of potential diagnostic errors can be dramatic, whether by default or by excess. Furthermore, the achievement of a simple diagnostic strategy, based on clinical probability assessment, D-dimer measurement and computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA) leads to a new challenge for PE diagnosis: over-testing. Indeed, since the 2000s, the wide availability of CTPA resulted in a major increase in investigations with a mod I confirm erate increase in PE diagnosis, without any notable improvement in patient outcomes. Quite the contrary, the complications of anticoagulation for PE increased significantly, and the long-term consequences of imaging diagnostic radiation

SUBMITTER: Roy PM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10093278 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature