Impact of adherence to CTS guidelines for diagnosis and management of pulmonary thromboembolism on diagnosis and clinical outcomes of pulmonary thromboembolism in a general hospital

Abstract

Objective Chinese Thoracic Society (CTS) published the first edition of guidelines on diagnosis and management of pulmonary thromboembolism in 2001. The guidelines may impact the diagnosis and clinical outcomes of pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE). Methods Hospital records of hospitalized patients with PTE from 1995 to 2007 were reviewed by the pulmonalists. Since December 2004,the patients with PTE in this hospital were diagnosed and treated adherence to the guidelines. The diagnosis and in-hospital mortality of PTE between the periods of non-adherence to and adherence to the guidelines were analyzed. Results Nineteen patients with PTE during the non-adherence to the guidelines accounted for 0.01% of total in-patients. While adherence to the guidelines,63 patients with PTE accounted for 0.07% of total in-patients. The in-hospital mortality of PTE (36.84%) during non-adherence to the guidelines was significantly higher than that (12.70%) during adherence to the guidelines. The percent of PTE cases accounting for the total in-patients, who were hospitalized in the department of respiratory disease during non-adherence and adherence to the guidelines,were 0.05% (4/7 928) and 1.28% (49/3 843) respectively. The in-hospital mortality of PTE in this department was 2.04% during adherence to the guidelines. Conclusions The adherence to the CTS guidelines for PTE improves the diagnosis and clinical results of PTE. Key words: Pulmonary thromboembolism; Diagnosis; Prognosis