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Previous Volume 349:1247-1256 September 25, 2003 Number 13 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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This Journal feature begins with a case vignette highlighting a common clinical problem. Evidence supporting various strategies is then presented, followed by a review of formal guidelines, when they exist. The article ends with the authors' clinical recommendations.

An otherwise healthy 51-year-old woman presents to her physician with pleuritic right posterior chest pain, without dyspnea or hemoptysis. Her temperature is 38.2°C, and her pulse is 102 beats per minute. Physical examination discloses a pleural friction rub over the posterior right hemithorax but is otherwise unremarkable. A chest radiograph is normal. She is treated with an antiinflammatory agent for presumed viral . . . [Full Text of this Article]

The Clinical Problem

Strategies and Evidence

Clinical Diagnosis

D-Dimer Testing

Ventilation–Perfusion Scanning

Computed Tomography

Evaluation of the Leg Veins

Conventional Pulmonary Angiography

Approaches to Testing

            High Clinical Probability of Pulmonary Embolism

            Low Clinical Probability of Pulmonary Embolism

            Intermediate Clinical Probability of Pulmonary Embolism

Special Circumstances

Areas of Uncertainty

Guidelines

Conclusions and Recommendations

Source Information

From the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of California, San Diego, Medical Center, San Diego (P.F.F.); and the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C. (V.F.T.).

Address reprint requests to Dr. Fedullo at the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of California, San Diego, Medical Center, 9300 Campus Point Dr., MC 7381, La Jolla, CA 92037-1300, or at pfedullo@uscb.edu.

Related Letters:

Suspected Pulmonary Embolism
Ranji S. R., Shojania K. G., Rosenberger P., Shernan S. K., Eltzschig H. K., Gaenzer H., Fedullo P. F., Tapson V. F.
Extract | Full Text | PDF  
N Engl J Med 2004; 350:82-84, Jan 1, 2004. Correspondence

D-Dimer in Venous Thromboembolism
Stern S. D., Propp D. A., Kumar A. M., Vayssairat M., de Clari L., Wells P. S., Anderson D.
Extract | Full Text | PDF  
N Engl J Med 2004; 350:192-194, Jan 8, 2004. Correspondence

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