Treatment is with anticoagulants such as heparin, warfarin or one of the direct-acting oral anticoagulants (DOACs). These are recommended for at least three months. Severe cases may require thrombolysis using medication such as tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) given intravenously or through a catheter, and some may require surgery (a pulmonary thrombectomy). If blood thinners are not appropriate, a temporary vena cava filter may be used.Pulmonary emboli affect about 430,000 people each year in Europe. In the United States, between 300,000 and 600,000 cases occur each year, which contribute to at least 40,000 deaths. Rates are similar in males and females. They become more common as people get older. Signs and symptoms
Symptoms of pulmonary embolism are typically sudden in onset and may include one or many of the following: dyspnea (shortness of breath), tachypnea (rapid breathing), chest pain of a "pleuritic" nature (worsened by breathing), cough and hemoptysis (coughing up blood). More severe cases can include signs such as cyanosis (blue discoloration, usually of the lips and fingers), collapse, and circulatory instability because of decreased blood flow through the lungs and into the left side of the heart. About 15% of all cases of sudden death are attributable to PE. While PE may present with syncope, less than 1% of syncope cases are due to PE.On physical examination, the lungs are usually normal. Occasionally, a pleural friction rub may be audible over the affected area of the lung (mostly in PE with infarct).
It puts the subjects into one of five classes (I–V), with 30-day mortality ranging from 1.1% to 24.5%. Those in classes I and II are low-risk and those in classes III–V are high-risk. References
External links

Pulmonary embolism at Curlie
Wells criteria for pulmonary embolism online calculator Archived 2016-11-21 at the Wayback Machine
Clinical prediction website – Wells criteria for pulmonary embolism
 Media related to Pulmonary embolism at Wikimedia Commons
"Pulmonary Embolism". MedlinePlus. U.S. National Library of Medicine.