Effects of concurrent sepsis with clinically significant pulmonary embolic disease

Forty-one patients with significant pulmonary emboli were reviewed. The presence of heart disease and obesity was found with relatively constant frequency throughout the groups presented. Postoperative infections (wounds or abscess) were frequently associated with fatal or significant pulmonary embolism, particularly after abdominal and pelvic operations. The infection rate (65 per cent) in patients in whom significant pulmonary embolism developed after abdominal and pelvic operations is particularly striking when compared to the overall infection rate of 7 per cent for major operations in our hospital. Recent studies of prophylactic minidose heparinization reveal an increased number of complications due to the heparin [24], and thus the proper selection of cases for prophylactic minidose heparin is mandatory. The data suggest that patients at high risk for the development of postoperative complications of infection are also at high risk for the development of significant pulmonary emboli and should be considered candidates for prophylactic minidose heparinization.