Current concepts. Relation between deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism in surgical patients.

Abstract

ON the basis of autopsy evidence, it has been established that clots can be found in the lower-limb veins of 30 to 50 per cent1 2 3 of patients dying after a surgical operation, and pulmonary emboli in a similar percentage.4 The figure for both far exceeds the expectation based on clinical evidence before death. Until recently, the study of both deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism in the living has been hampered not only by the unreliability of clinical examination but also by the lack of any dependable, readily applicable diagnostic technic. In recent years, the introduction of new technics, notably . . .