i am so very sorry to hear about the loss of your sister and her baby. my condolences to you and your entire family. i admire your willingness to write a paper on the very topic that took your sister's life. i think that takes a lot of strength and courage. to answer your question. a pulmonary embolism is caused when all or part of a blood clot breaks loose in a vein travels to the lungs and blocks a major artery there. usually a small part of a much larger clot (or " thrombus ") breaks off and causes the embolism. we know these large clots usually occur in leg veins so the medical examiner probably opened up the femoral vein and saw the remaining portion of the large clot still residing within the vein. that is how he or she knew where the clot came from. in a living person it can sometimes be impossible to determine where an embolism-causing clot came from. many people with blood clots in their legs have no symptoms. i hope you find this answer useful. good luck with your paper!
how do doctors determine where a pulmonary embolism came from? . my sister died during a pregnancy from a pulmonary embolism. the autopsy determined the clot came from the femoral vein. . i am in human body and disease class and the topic that i picked from the hat was "pulmonary embolism. i am going to use part of my sister's autopsy in my research paper. that is why i need to know how the medical examiner was able to make the determination of where the embolism came from. . thank you for your help. . radar