Diagnostics in venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism

Deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism (venous thromboembolism) have a prevalence as high as 1-2/1000/year. Timely diagnosis and therapy prevent or reduce the acute life threatening and the long term disabling complications. Due to the variability in its signs and symptoms, venous thromboembolism should frequently be considered as a differential diagnosis. When doing so, only one in five or six suspected cases actually will have the disease. A low estimate of the clinical probability in conjunction with a negative D-Dimer test may rule out the diagnosis in 40-50% of cases. All other patients need imaging procedures. Current standard of care for deep vein thrombosis is venous ultrasound of the leg, for pulmonary embolism it is CT pulmonary angiography. Sensitivity and specificity of both methods are high enough to allow for a definitive diagnosis. Diagnostic challenges remain the suspicion of relapsing disease and venous thromboembolism in pregnancy.