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 embolism.

If you want to follow along with written notes on this topic, you can follow along at zero definals.com slash p.e.

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

So let's get straight into it.

Pulmonary embolism, which can be just shortened to PE,

is a condition where there's a blood clot, which we call a thrombus,

that forms in the pulmonary arteries.

And this is usually the result of a deep vein thrombosis or a DVT that develops in the pulmonary arteries. And this is usually the result of a deep vein thrombosis or a DVT that

develops in the legs or in one of the other deep veins and travels, it becomes an embolism,

through the venous system, then through the right side of the heart and into the pulmonary arteries,

where it gets lodged in those arteries inside the lungs.

Once the blood clot is lodged in the pulmonary arteries, it blocks the blood flow to the lung

tissue and it also creates a strain on the right side of the heart trying to pump blood

past the clots. As you can imagine, this makes them quite dangerous. DVTs and PEs are collectively

known as something called venous thromboembolism or VTE. So what are the risk factors for developing

venous thromboembolism, DVTs or PEs? Well, there's a number of risk factors, and in many of these situations, we actually

give patients prophylactic treatment with injections of low molecular weight heparin to reduce

their risk. These are things like immobility, recent surgical procedures like replacement of a hip

or replacement of a knee, long haul flights, for example, from the UK to Australia.

Pregnancy is a big risk factor for developing DVTs and PEs.

Hormone therapy with estrogen, so these are things like the hormone contraceptive pill

or hormone replacement therapy in postmenopausal women,

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