AUTHOR=Wu Ziqiang , Liu Xuesong , Zhu Quan , Li Haozhen , Li Kaixuan , Wang Guilin , Tang Zhengyan , Wang Zhao 

TITLE=Pulmonary embolism following urological non-oncological surgery: The clinical features, management, and long-term follow-up outcome from a tertiary hospital of China

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Surgery

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/surgery/articles/10.3389/fsurg.2022.930968

DOI=10.3389/fsurg.2022.930968

ISSN=2296-875X

ABSTRACT=Abstract
Objective: To evaluate the clinical features, treatment and outcomes of pulmonary embolism (PE) after urological non-oncological surgery in a tertiary hospital of China.
Methods: A total of 8 patients who suffered from PE after urological non-oncological surgery from 2016 to 2019 were recruited to the study. Clinical data, including symptoms, vital signs, electrocardiogram, echocardiography and computed tomographic pulmonary arteriography (CTPA) were reviewed. In addition, the management and long-term follow-up outcome of PE were reported. Pulmonary Embolism Quality of Life (PEmb-QoL) questionnaire was applied for 5 patients to evaluate health-related quality of life after PE.
Results: All patients were survived during their hospitalization and 5 patients were contacted when follow-up. 5 of the 8 patients were anticoagulated regularly until the re-examination results of CTPA and lower extremities ultrasound were normal. The period of anticoagulant sustained at least one month for each patient. The long-term follow-up outcomes showed that PE had little impact on the patients’ quality of life.
Conclusions: The study demonstrated that the PE patient's prognosis was not as terrible as feared when treated immediately in the ward. Early diagnosis and treatment of PE is vital for the prognosis. However, further verifications based on the results of large studies are still needed.