PULMONARY-EMBOLISM AND HEART-DISEASE - AN AUTOPSY STUDY

The frequency of pulmonary embolism in patients with myocardial infarc tion (MI) and chronic rheumatic heart disease (RHE) has been investiga ted in an autopsy series. The series comprised 21530 hospital autopsie s from 1960 to 1984. Altogether 5351 patients with MI and 289 patients with RHE as underlying death cause were selected for this study. Pati ents with RHE or old myocardial infarction (OMI) had a significantly h igher frequency of pulmonary embolism than patients with acute myocard ial infarction (AMI) or acute and old myocardial infarction combined ( AOMI). This was true irrespective of duration of stay in the hospital during last admission. The frequency of pulmonary embolism decreased i n patients with OMI or RHE from 1960 to 1984 suggestive of better ther apy of chronic heart failure. A similar trend was seen in patients wit h AMI during a period with consistent anticoagulation treatment.