Background: Single subsegmental pulmonary embolism is increasingly diagnosed but the benefit to anticoagulate in the absence of concurrent deep vein thrombosis is not consistently established.
Aims: To investigate the safety of an observational approach in patients with isolated subsegmental pulmonary embolism and the utility of the second lower limb ultrasound after 7 days.
Methods: Prospective observational study of patients diagnosed with isolated subsegmental pulmonary embolism between July 2016 and July 2020 at North Shore and Waitakere Hospitals, Auckland. The primary outcome was the venous thromboembolism recurrence rate within 3 months of single subsegmental pulmonary embolism diagnosis. Secondary outcomes included all-cause mortality, bleeding complications and the percentage of deep vein thrombosis diagnosed at serial compressive ultrasounds (CUS) of lower limbs.
Results: Among the 48 patients studied (two excluded due to revised diagnosis), no statistically significant differences were found in the baseline characteristics between the anticoagulated (n = 17) and observed (n = 31) groups. After patients with deep vein thrombosis were excluded, comparisons did not reveal significant differences in the primary outcome (0 vs 1 recurrent venous thromboembolism in the anticoagulated vs. observational groups respectively) and the secondary outcomes. In the observational cohort, 77.4% (n = 24) patients had repeat bilateral lower limb CUS after 7 days, and none had deep vein thrombosis diagnosed on the second CUS.
Conclusions: Withholding anticoagulation was a feasible management option for this cohort of patients with single subsegmental pulmonary embolisms with an absence of deep vein thrombosis. The utility of a second lower limb ultrasound is questionable and would warrant further assessment in a prospective study.
Keywords: diagnosis; multidetector computed tomography; pulmonary embolism; therapy; venous thromboembolism.
© 2021 Royal Australasian College of Physicians.