• Tom van der Hulle, Nick van Es, Paul L den Exter, Josien van Es, Mos Inge C M ICM, Renée A Douma, Kruip Marieke J H A MJHA, Hovens Marcel M C MMC, Marije Ten Wolde, Mathilde Nijkeuter, Ten Cate Hugo H, Pieter W Kamphuisen, Harry R Büller, Menno V Huisman, and Frederikus A Klok.
• Tom van der Hulle, MD, Department of Thrombosis and Hemostasis, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, P.O Box 9600, 2300 RC, Leiden, the Netherlands, Tel.: + 31 71 526 8132, Fax: +31 71 526 6868, E-mail: t.van_der_hulle@lumc.nl.
• Thromb. Haemost. 2017 Jul 26; 117 (8): 1622-1629.

AbstractA normal computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA) remains a controversial criterion for ruling out acute pulmonary embolism (PE) in patients with a likely clinical probability. We set out to determine the risk of VTE and fatal PE after a normal CTPA in this patient category and compare these risk to those after a normal pulmonary angiogram of 1.7 % (95 %CI 1.0-2.7 %) and 0.3 % (95 %CI 0.02-0.7 %). A patient-level meta-analysis from 4 prospective diagnostic management studies that sequentially applied the Wells rule, D-dimer tests and CTPA to consecutive patients with clinically suspected acute PE. The primary outcome was the 3-month VTE incidence after a normal CTPA. A total of 6,148 patients were included with an overall PE prevalence of 24 %. The 3-month VTE incidence in all 4,421 patients in whom PE was excluded at baseline was 1.2 % (95 %CI 0.48-2.6) and the risk of fatal PE was 0.11 % (95 %CI 0.02-0.70). In patients with a likely clinical probability the 3-month incidences of VTE and fatal PE were 2.0 % (95 %CI 1.0-4.1 %) and 0.48 % (95 %CI 0.20-1.1 %) after a normal CTPA. The 3-month incidence of VTE was 6.3 % (95 %CI 3.0-12) in patients with a Wells rule >6 points. In conclusion, this study suggests that a normal CTPA may be considered as a valid diagnostic criterion to rule out PE in the majority of patients with a likely clinical probability, although the risk of VTE is higher in subgroups such as patients with a Wells rule >6 points for which a closer follow-up should be considered.

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