Comparison of Pulmonary Thromboembolism Before and After the Autopsy in Patients With Trauma

Background and Objectives: It is well established that pulmonary thromboembolism is frequent in patients with trauma. In this study we compared pulmonary thromboembolism before and after the autopsy in patients with trauma. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the patients being referred to 3 of teaching hospitals of Tehran from March 2015 to March 2016 because of trauma and died in hospital due to the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism (PE) were recruited. Then the patients were autopsied and the cause of death was evaluated and the frequency of PE was compared before and after the autopsy. Findings: A total of 168 patients with PE (108 males 64.3% and 60 females 35.7%) mean age 48.5 years were evaluated. After the autopsy, PE was diagnosed in 50% of the patients. The correlation between age and autopsy was significant (r = 0.47, P = 0.006), however, the correlation of autopsy with sex, underlying disease, and the hospitalization duration was not significant. Conclusions: According to our results, among patients with trauma, half of the premortem diagnosis of PE is not confirmed by autopsy. In addition, age significantly correlate to the PE.