Pulmonary embolism: diagnosis and treatment.

Pulmonary embolism is a condition with a potentially high mortality that often goes unrecognized. Prompt diagnosis and treatment effectively reduce the mortality rate. Clinical judgment alone is insufficient for diagnosis; objective testing is needed. Once the diagnosis is made, effective treatment should be instituted. Treatments differ, based on several factors including disease severity, contraindications to treatment and pre-existing diseases. The major thrust of training should be to teach medical care workers how to prevent deep vein thrombosis and its most serious complication, pulmonary embolism.