Some clinical predictors can identify patients whose venous thromboembolism (VTE) will turn into fatal pulmonary embolism (PE), new research suggests. In a study of 15,520 patients with acute VTE, 58% had symptomatic deep vein thrombosis (DVT) but not symptomatic PE. Forty percent of patients had symptomatic nonmassive PE and 2% had symptomatic massive PE.

At 3 months, overall mortality was about 9%. Fatal PE was considered to be the cause of death in 19% of deaths.

Patients who had symptomatic nonmassive PE had a 5.42-fold higher risk of dying of PE than people who had DVT without symptomatic PE. The risk of fatal PE was multiplied by 17.5 in patients who had symptomatic massive PE.

Other factors found to be associated with an increased risk of fatal PE included immobilization for neurologic disease, age older than 75 years, and cancer. Researchers suggest that the clinical predictors their study identified should be considered when clinicians evaluate clinical risk and prescribe treatment.

Source: Laporte S, et al., Clinical predictors for fatal pulmonary embolism in 15,520 patients with venous thromboembolism, Circulation, April 1, 2008.