Characteristics of Mortalities related to Pulmonary Embolism following Multiple Trauma; a Brief Report

Pulmonary embolism (PE) is introduced as the third major cause of death after trauma in those who survive more than 24 hours. This study aimed to describe the characteristics of mortalities due to trauma related PE in cases referred to the forensic medicine department.

The present cross sectional study was conducted on medical profiles of cadavers that were registered as trauma related mortality in the dissection department of the Forensic Medicine Organization, Tehran, Iran, during 2011 to 2016.

The cause of death for 92 of the 10800 (0.85%) evaluated cadavers was diagnosed as trauma related PE. The mean age of these patients was 58.37 ± 19.39 years (66.3% male). Only 14 (15.2%) hospitalized patients had received anticoagulant agents. The most frequent trauma related PE mortality cases were male (p = 0.003) and aged > 55 years (p = 0.005), with trauma to death time of < 3 weeks (p = 0.004), lower limb injury (p = 0.003), car crash trauma mechanism (p = 0.003), and no anticoagulant prescribed (p = 0.001).

According to the results of the present study, the prevalence of trauma related PE mortality was 0.85%. It seems that, having a clear anticoagulation therapy protocol in trauma centers could be helpful in decreasing the prevalence of traumatic thromboembolism and its' related mortality.