RT Journal
A1 Anderson JT, Owings JT, Goodnight JE
T1 BEdside noninvasive detection of acute pulmonary embolism in critically ill surgical patients
JF Archives of Surgery
JO Archives of Surgery
YR 1999
FD August 1
VO 134
IS 8
SP 869
OP 875
DO 10.1001/archsurg.134.8.869
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archsurg.134.8.869
AB Hypothesis 
    We hypothesized that late pulmonary dead space fraction (Fdlate) would be a useful tool to screen for pulmonary embolism (PE) in a group of surgical patients, including patients who required mechanical ventilation and patients with adult respiratory distress syndrome.Design 
    We prospectively calculated Fdlate in patients with suspected PE who underwent pulmonary angiography.Setting 
    University-based, level I trauma center.Main Outcome Measure 
    Ability of Fdlate to identify patients with PE.Results 
    Twelve patients had 14 angiograms for suspected PE. The Fdlate was 0.12 or above in all 5 patients who had PE; 4 required mechanical ventilation. The Fdlate values were below 0.12 in 8 of 9 patients without PE. Four patients had adult respiratory distress syndrome. The Fdlate had 100% sensitivity and 89% specificity for the detection of PE.Conclusions 
    The Fdlate is a valuable tool for bedside screening of PE in surgical patients. We were able to accurately detect all PEs.