[Anticoagulants in the treatment of severe pulmonary embolism. A prospective study]

This prospective study was designed to obtain information on the fate of patients with severe pulmonary embolism who received anticoagulants as first-line treatment, in order to identify those in whom other treatments available might be expected to reduce mortality or sequelae. Thirty-seven patients selected as they showed evidence of acute cor pulmonale entered the study. Seven of them (18.9 p. 100) died in hospital, and these were patients whose age (p = 0.004), degree of pulmonary obstruction (p = 0.008) and serum lactate dehydrogenase level (p = 0.001) were significantly higher than those of the other patients. The mean values of these parameters (64 years, 72 p. 100 and 450 IU/l respectively) made it possible to select patients with a high risk of death. At the end of the follow-up period (25 +/- 12 months) only 2 patients complained of moderate dyspnoea, in contrast with the high incidence (17/18 patients) of paraclinical abnormalities observed 3 months after the initial accident. We conclude that clinical trials comparing other treatments with the one we used would be useful if their objective was to reduce mortality in high risk patients. On the other hand, it seems impossible to demonstrate a functional improvement: we found our treatment satisfactory and its results independent of the abnormalities observed on the 3rd month.