Pulmonary Embolism. Prevalence, Diagnosis and Management

Essay from the year 2017 in the subject Medicine - Epidemiology, grade: 1, Egerton University, language: English, abstract: Pulmonary embolism is usually a life-threatening condition that occurs due to blockage of the main artery carrying blood to the lungs. This blockage is caused by a blood clot that is carried in the bloodstream to the lung, primarily from the leg following deep vein thrombosis. From a primary care perspective, pulmonary embolism is not considered as a disease with its etiology. Rather, it arises as a complication of a number of conditions that cause venous thrombosis such as deep vein thrombosis, pregnancy and postoperative complications. This literature review focuses on evaluating current evidence based guidelines for diagnosis and management of pulmonary embolism.