Hello and welcome to the Zero to Finals podcast.

My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be talking to you about pulmonary embolisms.

And you can find written notes on this topic at zero to finals.com slash PE

or in the respiratory section of the zero to finals medicine book.

So let's get straight into it.

Pulmonary embolism or PE describes a blood clot or a thrombus in the pulmonary arteries.

An embolus is a thrombus that has traveled in the blood, and often the thrombus comes from a deep vein thrombosis or a DVT in the leg, which travels up through the right hand side of the heart and into the lungs in the pulmonary arteries.

The thrombus will block the blood flow to the lung tissue and add strain to the right side of the heart.

DVTs and PEs are collectively known as Venus thromboembolism or VTE.

Let's talk about the risk factors.

Several factors can put patients at higher risk of developing a deep vein thrombosis or a pulmonary embolism.

In many of these situations, for example, in patients undergoing surgery, prophylactic treatment is used to reduce the risk of venous thromboembolism.

And we'll talk about venous thromboembolism prophylaxis shortly.

The key risk factors are immobility, having reduced mobility compared to normal,

recent surgery, long haul travel, for example, going on an aeroplane to the other side of the world,

pregnancy, hormone therapy with estrogen, for example, the combined oral contraceptive

pill or hormone replacement therapy, malignancy or cancer, polycythemia, which is a raised

hemoglobin, systemic lupus erythematosis, and thrombophilia.

A tom tip for you, in your exams when a patient presents with possible features of a deep vein thrombosis or a pulmonary embolism,

ask about risk factors such as periods of immobility, recent

surgery and long-haul flights to score extra points. So let's talk about venous thromboembolism

prophylaxis. Every patient admitted to hospital is assessed for their risk of venous thrombo embolism, or VTE.

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