[Pulmonary embolism: epidemiologic analysis of 27,410 autopsies during a 10-year period]

The frequency of pulmonary embolism (PE) among all patients at necropsy in a university hospital from 1979 through 1988 has been evaluated. Of 27,410 subjects, 1,984 males (14.6%) and 3,428 females (24.7%) had a PE with a highly significant increase in the elderly patients. The autoptic rate of PE remained unchanged during the period analyzed, while the frequency of PE with lung infarction increased (p less than 0.05). In 1,411 subjects (26% of all subjects with PE) a massive fatal embolism was found, and in 2,230 (41.2%) PE had occluded one or more arteries in both lungs. Among subjects with a malignant neoplasm, patients with pancreatic and gastric cancer, cancer of the large bowel and women with ovarian cancers had the highest frequency of PE. Old age, female sex, gastrointestinal and ovarian cancers must be considered as significant risk factors for PE.