BIGG

An Official American Thoracic Society/Society of Thoracic Radiology Clinical Practice Guideline: Evaluation of Suspected Pulmonary EmbolismIn Pregnancy

Am. j. respir. crit. care med; 184 (10), 2011
Ano de publicação: 2011

The diagnostic algorithm for evaluation of suspected pulmonaryembolism (PE) in pregnancy presented in this clinical practiceguideline represents the collective efforts of a multidisciplinarypanel of major medical stakeholders who developed these rec-ommendations using the GRADE system (Figure 1). A majorstrength of these guidelines is the transparent evidence-basedapproach with explicit description of the values that influencedthe recommendations; the main weaknesses are the low qualityand very limited amount of direct evidence pertaining to diag-nostic test accuracy and patient-important outcomes in thepregnant population. The diagnostic algorithm was formulatedunder the assumptions that patients are stable and all studiesare equally available. In real-life situations where either thepatient is unstable or some studies are not available on a timelybasis, empiric initiation of therapy and/or alternate diagnosticstrategies should be considered.