ABSTRACT
Objective To analyze the clinical characteristics and risk factors of patients with confirmed venous thromboembolism (VTE) in order to improve recognition of VTE, and reduce the rate of missed diagnosis and wrong diagnosis. Methods A retrospectively review was performed for 205 patients diagnosed with VTE confirmed by CT pulmonary angiography (CTPA), radionuclide pulmonary ventilation/perfusion (V/Q) imaging, lower extremity deep vein ultrasound or venography in the First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical College from January 2009 to December 2018. The clinical manifestations, laboratory examination results, imaging results, treatment and prognosis of patients diagnosed with VTE were analyzed. The clinical possibility was assessed by pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) simplified Wells score and deep venous thrombosis (DVT) Wells score. 130 non-VTE patients admitted in the same period were enrolled as controls, and the risk factors of VTE were screened by multivariate Logistic regression analysis. Results Among 205 VTE patients, 14 cases had incomplete data, 2 cases were complicated with other diseases deteriorated, 2 cases were excluded because of economic reasons, 10 cases abandoned treatment because of serious illness, and finally 177 cases were included in the analysis. The main clinical symptoms of VTE patients were chest tightness (36.16%), followed by chest pain (29.94%), dyspnea (29.38%) and hemoptysis (24.29%). Swelling or tenderness of unilateral/bilateral lower extremities (38.98%) and lung moist rale (20.90%) were the most common signs. ST-T changes were the main changes in electrocardiogram (ECG, 49.15%), followed by SⅠQⅢTⅢ or QⅢTⅢ changes (35.03%). Only 5.65% of the patients had plasma D-dimer less than 0.5 mg/L. 31.07% (55/177) patients had normal arterial blood gas results. Of the 177 VTE patients, 175 were diagnosed as PTE by CTPA, with bilateral/multi-lobar pulmonary artery embolism and its branches being the main type [44.57% (78/175)]. Two cases were diagnosed as PTE by V/Q imaging. Among them, 112 cases were received lower extremity deep venous ultrasound or lower extremity deep venography, 51 cases were diagnosed as lower extremity DVT, with thrombosis of popliteal and above vein as common [68.63% (35/51)]. The clinical possibility assessment showed that 67.23% (119/177) patients might have PTE (PTE simplified Wells score greater than or equal to 2), 38.98% (69/177) patients might have lower extremity DVT (DVT Wells score greater than or equal to 2). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that operation less than 4 weeks [odds ratio (OR) = 5.503, 95% confidence interval (95%CI) = 1.577-19.206, P = 0.007], trauma or fracture less than 3 months (OR = 6.771, 95%CI = 1.510-30.370, P = 0.012), VTE history (OR = 0.072, 95%CI =0.009-0.549, P = 0.011) were independent risk factors for VTE occurrence. Thrombolytic therapy was administered in 13 cases while anticoagulant therapy alone was prescribed in 164 cases. 176 patients recovered, while 1 case died. Conclusions VTE clinical manifestations are not specific. Patients with risk factors should be vigilant, be strengthen with diagnostic awareness, paid attention to the evaluation of clinical possibilities. Timely thrombolytic or anticoagulant treatment after diagnosis, can improve the survival rate.