We describe a case of a 90-year-old
male admitted to the
emergency department with
deep vein thrombosis and central acute
pulmonary embolism. Despite a remarkably increased value of D-dimer and a modestly elevated concentration of cardiac
troponin I, the value of
B-type natriuretic peptide was found to be non-diagnostic. Limited to this single case
report, our evidence suggests that the measurement of
natriuretic peptides is questionable for diagnosing central acute
pulmonary embolism in the
emergency department.