17th January 2024

Presentation

Clinical features of pulmonary embolism most commonly include tachypnoea, pleuritic chest pain, tachycardia, cough and haemoptysis. Features of the underlying cause are often present, in particular, unilateral lower limb pain and swelling in the case of DVT. Symptoms indicating severe illness include pre-syncope and syncope. Symptoms and signs on examination are important to elicit if present, as they form the basis of several scoring systems, such as the Wells’ score and PERC rule (see diagnosis section).

Common examination signs in PE (2):

• Tachycardia >100bpm
• Tachypnoea
• Hypoxia
• Hypotension
• Elevated jugular venous pressure (JVP)
• Loud P2
• Pleural rub