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Outpatient Treatment of Pulmonary Embolism: a Practical Guide

  • Thrombosis (D Slattery, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Emergency and Hospital Medicine Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

Pulmonary embolism (PE) is an ever increasing diagnosis in the emergency department.

Recent Findings

Traditionally, all patients with PE were admitted to the hospital; however, with the advent of higher resolution CT scanners, more PEs of questionable clinical significance are being diagnosed. This phenomenon coupled with the emerging evidence of the safety of non-warfarin oral anticoagulants for outpatient management suggests that an alternative approach is both timely and appropriate. This paper reviews the growing body of literature supporting outpatient treatment of select patients with low risk pulmonary embolism.

Summary

We believe that with an established protocol, institutional support to include assurance of reliable and timely outpatient follow-up that select low risk PE patients can be safely discharged home.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Nevada, School of Medicine, 901 Rancho Lane, STE 135, Las Vegas, NV, 89106, USA

    Melissa Coombs

  2. Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Nevada, School of Medicine, 901 Rancho Lane, STE 135, Las Vegas, NV, 89106, USA

    Benjamin Fox

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  1. Melissa Coombs
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Correspondence to Melissa Coombs.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interests.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Coombs, M., Fox, B. Outpatient Treatment of Pulmonary Embolism: a Practical Guide. Curr Emerg Hosp Med Rep 6, 31–36 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40138-017-0144-3

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