Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2004 Dec;57(12):1254-7.
doi: 10.1136/jcp.2003.013581.

Fatal pulmonary embolism in hospitalised patients: a necropsy review

R Alikhan  1 , F Peters, R Wilmott, A T Cohen
Affiliations

Fatal pulmonary embolism in hospitalised patients: a necropsy review

R Alikhan et al. J Clin Pathol. 2004 Dec.

Abstract

Aims: To carry out a retrospective review of all postmortem reports during the period 1991 to 2000 at King's College Hospital, London, as an extension of a previous analysis performed for the period 1965 to 1990.

Methods: The number of deaths resulting from necropsy confirmed fatal pulmonary embolism in hospitalised patients was determined, and a limited analysis of the clinical characteristics of those patients who died was performed.

Results: During the 10 year period, 16 104 deaths occurred and 6833 (42.4%) necropsies were performed. The outcome measure, fatal pulmonary embolism, was recorded as cause of death in 265 cases (3.9% of all necropsies; 5.2% of adult cases). No deaths from pulmonary embolism occurred in patients under 18 years of age; 80.0% occurred in patients older than 60 years. Of the fatal emboli, 214 of 265 (80.8%) occurred in patients who had not undergone recent surgery. Of these patients, 110 (51.4%) had suffered an acute medical illness in the six weeks before death, most often an acute infectious episode (26 cases).

Conclusions: Thromboembolic events remain a relatively common cause of death in hospitalised patients and appear to occur more frequently in non-surgical than in surgical patients.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Age distribution of necropsy confirmed fatal pulmonary embolism.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Geerts WH, Heit JA, Clagett GP, et al. Prevention of venous thromboembolism. Chest 2001;119:132S–75S. - PubMed
    1. Nicolaides AN, Breddin HK, Fareed J, et al. Prevention of venous thromboembolism. International consensus statement. Guidelines compiled in accordance with the scientific evidence. Int Angiol 2001;20:1–37. - PubMed
    1. Kahn S, Ginsberg J. The post-thrombotic syndrome: current knowledge, controversies, and directions for future research. Blood Rev 2002;16:155. - PubMed
    1. Heit JA, Melton LJ, III, Lohse CM, et al. Incidence of venous thromboembolism in hospitalized patients vs. community residents. Mayo Clin Proc 2001;76:1102–10. - PubMed
    1. Heit JA, O’Fallon WM, Petterson TM, et al. Relative impact of risk factors for deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism: a population-based study. Arch Intern Med 2002;162:1245–8. - PubMed