Prevalence and predictor of pulmonary embolism in a cohort of Chinese patients with acute proximal deep vein thrombosis

Abstract Objectives This study was to investigate the incidence of pulmonary embolism (PE) in a cohort of Chinese patients with acute ( Methods A retrospective review of patients diagnosed as acute proximal DVT from January 2014 to June 2018 at a single center was performed. Helical computed tomography angiography was performed to screen PE within 48 hours after admission. Multiple factors associated with PE were compared between the PE group and non-PE group. Results A total of 100 patients with acute proximal DVT were screened for PE. The mean age was 56.9 ± 18.1 (range 21 to 88) years old, and 55% were male. The most common risk factors of DVT were immobilization (38%), malignancy (27%), and trauma or surgery (21%). Majority of the patients’ thrombosis was located at the left leg (66%) and 8 patients had bilateral lower limb DVT. Femoral vein was involved in 52 patients (52%), while iliofemoral thrombosis was identified in 48 patients (48%). PE was identified in 58 patients (58%), including 3 massive and 55 non-massive PE. There was no statistical difference between the PE group and non-PE group in terms of age, sex and risk factors. The D-dimer level was associated with the existence of PE (P=0.038). Patients with iliofemoral thrombosis had a similar incidence of PE compared with those with femoral thrombosis alone (P=1.000). Conclusions PE occurred in more than half of patients with acute proximal DVT, despite the fact that most of them were asymptomatic. In this study, existence of PE did not correlate with pelvic thrombosis. Increasing D-dimer level was statistically associated with presence of PE.